📺 A 30 Rock follow-up, a war drama, a conspiracy thriller, and a surrealist comedy
Plus 5 new TV series & 2 new movies
Happy Thursday! A few days ago we found out that HBO ordered a comedy pilot from Bottoms star Rachel Sennott, and we couldn’t be more stoked. According to Deadline, she will write, star in, and executive-produce along with Barry alums Emma Barrie and Aida Rodgers. The only thing that could make this news better? If Ireland’s sweetheart Ayo Edebiri were also attached. <3
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
Girls5Eva (Netflix)
Manhunt (Apple TV+)
Davey and Jonesie’s Locker (Hulu)
Masters of the Air (Apple TV+)
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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We keep an eye on all of the new streaming content that is set to premiere. Here’s a list of new shows and movies to stream this week.
We Were the Lucky Ones (Limited Series) — Logan Lerman and Joey King star in the limited series inspired by the true story of one Jewish Family separated at the start of World War II.
Watch on Hulu: March 28 (3 of 8 episodes, then weekly)The Baxters (Season 1) — In this faith-based journey, Elizabeth and John Baxter and their 5 adult children must work through some challenging family drama.
Watch on Prime: March 28 (all 10 episodes)Renegade Nell (Season 1) — This British historical adventure series sees Louisa Harland (Derry Girls) as a young fugitive who becomes the most feared highwaywoman in the country.
Watch on Disney+: March 29 (all 8 episodes)The Beautiful Game (Movie) — This British sports drama stars Bill Nighy as the coach of a squad of homeless footballers who attempt to compete in Rome at the Homeless World Cup.
Watch on Netflix: March 29A Gentleman in Moscow (Limited Series) — Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead lead this adaptation of the Amor Towles novel about a Count who spends decades banished to a hotel room after the Russian Revolution.
Watch on Paramount+ with Showtime: March 29 (1 of 8 episodes, then weekly)Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Movie) — The fifth film in the MonsterVerse is a sequel to 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong and sees the two Titans unite against an undiscovered threat.
Watch in Theaters: March 29Parish (Season 1) — Adapted from BBC One’s Driver, Giancarlo Esposito stars in this crime drama about a taxi driver whose life is turned upside down when he agrees to pick up a gangster.
Watch on AMC/AMC+: March 31 (1 of 6 episodes, then weekly)
These popular shows came back with new episodes. Here’s what we thought and where you can watch them.
Girls5Eva
Keywords: sitcom, zany, singing
Watch if you like: 30 Rock, Great News, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Jess’s Rating: A-
Tina Fey and Robert Carlock are the team behind a string of sitcoms that share the same distinct style of over-the-top zaniness and high joke density. If you’re a fan of their previous work — 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Mr. Mayor, and Great News — then you’ll feel right at home with Girls5Eva.
The comedy follows a Y2K-era girl group, now in their 40s, who reunite to chase the fame that eluded them in their youth. Sara Bareilles takes the helm as the “voice of reason” character, a mom who works at her brother’s restaurant. Renée Elise Goldsberry, known for originating the role of Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton, takes on the Jenna Maroney character as an overconfident attention-hog. They’re joined by Paula Pell as a lesbian workaholic dentist and Busy Philipps as an air-headed influencer.
Now with three seasons under its belt, Girls5Eva is firmly in its groove. Each of the main foursome is on a personal journey of growth, creating an emotional anchor in the otherwise gag-heavy series. While the jokes don’t always land for me, and some of the goofiness feels contrived, I respect the level of comic ingenuity at work here. Remarkably self-aware but never cynical, the series satirizes the music industry while giving the group just enough talent — and undeniable bops — to be believable. Try to binge this without having the theme song on a loop in your brain 24/7 (you can’t).
— Jess
Length: 30-min runtime, 3 seasons / 22 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
Manhunt
Keywords: miniseries, conspiracy drama, historical
Watch if you like: Abraham Lincoln, FBI, John Adams
Jenni’s Rating: C-
Apple TV+’s latest prestige piece is based on the bestselling James L. Swanson book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. Part true-crime, part historical drama, the series is a loose retelling of the nearly two-week search for John Wilkes Booth and the other conspirators behind the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
As with most of Apple’s projects, the production and talent of this show is of incredible quality. Anthony Boyle in particular is as charismatic as he is self-righteous as the actor-turned-assassin, Booth. But despite its strong points, I found the show’s first half to be a little boring. Manhunt takes itself quite seriously and somehow — despite the apparent urgency to locate Booth — the pace of each episode feels slow. Uncalibrated time jumps along with persistent detailing simply remove the tension and drive that should be present in this story.
Most of the complaints I’ve seen online have not been pacing-related, however, but about the accuracy of certain set pieces and historical figure portrayals. I fully disagree with those criticisms; as I mentioned, in my mind, the character and production work is the best part of Manhunt.
It’s hard to imagine wanting to carve out the time to finish this series myself, but I would definitely recommend it to my Lincoln-loving uncle, along with anyone else who both enjoys historical dramas and is ok with a show that requires a bit of patience and careful attention.
— Jenni
Length: 55-min runtime, 1 season / 4 of 7 episodes out, new on Thursdays
Watch on: Apple TV+
Davey and Jonesie’s Locker
Keywords: goofy, buddy comedy, sci-fi
Watch if you like: Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, Paper Girls, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Jenni’s Rating: C-
This Canadian comedy follows Davey (Veronika Slowikowska) and Jonesie (Jaelynn Thora Brooks) — eccentric outcasts and best friends at Schrödinger High School who discover that their locker contains a portal to the multiverse. Once out of their original timeline, the pair are chased by an agent from the Management Organization of the Multiverse (M.O.M) who aims to sentence them to the Detention Dimension and wipe their memories.
I’ll cut to the chase: this show was not for me, but it is definitely for someone. While the series is impressively creative, the sense of humor in Davey and Jonesie’s Locker feels specific to a young tween and teen audience in a way I couldn’t relate to. Every episode is silly to the point of ridiculous and the story suffers somewhat for it (at least from the point of view of a 20-something year old).
Although it’s goofy, this show will likely resonate for younger viewers who feel a little out of step with their peers. The chemistry between Slowikowska and Brooks as co-dependent BFFs bolsters the production, and the overall concept is fun, with each episode transporting Davey and Jonesie to a slightly different dimension within the confines of the school — each sillier and more imaginative than the last.
If you’re over 18 though, for the same general message and surrealist tilt, I would suggest you skip this series and re-watch Everything Everywhere All at Once instead.
— Jenni
Length: 30-min runtime, 1 season / 10 episodes
Watch on: Hulu
We reviewed a show in its early days on air. Now that we’ve watched more of it, would we change our initial rating?
Masters of the Air
Keywords: World War II, prestige drama, miniseries
Watch if you like: Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Saving Private Ryan
Jenni’s Original Rating: C+
Jess’s Final Rating: C
The team behind Band of Brothers and The Pacific, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, joined forces once again for Masters of the Air. This time, they chronicle the highs and lows of the 100th Bomb Group, also known as the “Bloody Hundredth” for the heavy losses the aviators suffered during World War II.
Based on a 600+ page nonfiction book by Donald L. Miller of the same name, the series has a lot of ground (well, air) to cover. Spanning over two years and countless missions, the narrative shifts focus between 6+ central figures as they journey from their base in England, to battling in the dangerous skies, to the underground French resistance pockets, to prisoner of war camps in Germany, and more. It’s a lot of people and places to keep up with, and with so much going on, it starts to feel more like a dramatization of cherry-picked chapters of a history book than a cohesive narrative. In one later episode, for instance, the entirety of the story of the Tuskegee Airmen is shoehorned in and consolidated to 60 minutes.
In classic Apple TV+ fashion, the production design is glorious (and gloriously expensive, I’m sure). Every bit of expense shows in the stunning aerial fight sequences. And yet, it all feels a little too glossy, from the smoothness of the planes’ movements to the one-dimensionality of the main characters. Most glaringly, Austin Butler stars as Gale “Buck” Clevens and has no discernible personality beyond a James Dean swagger and permanent half-smirk. This may be a thoroughly researched and elegant World War II series, but it lacks the nuanced human tales that would inject life into a detailed but otherwise surface-level dramatization.
— Jess
Length: 60-min runtime, Limited Series / 9 episodes
Watch on: Apple TV+
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