📺 Introducing the Double Take TV Database!
& 2 new things to watch (...or not)
Hello and happy 50th edition of the newsletter! In honor of the big “five-oh” we are excited to unveil a project we’ve been working on for our subscribers: the Double Take Database. It’s still a work in progress, but finally you can flip through all the shows we’ve reviewed in one centralized place!
We’ve added tabs where you can sort the shows by your specific streaming services, and also included a “Filter” option by genre and keywords. To read the review of a show all you need to do is hover over the “Show Title” and click the “Open” button that appears in the row.
We can’t wait to get some feedback on this beta version of our database so please send us your thoughts, comments, and suggestions as you start to check it out!
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin
Something from Tiffany’s
— 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 to watch this week.
1923: Season 1 — Another Yellowstone spin-off with just a year as its title, 1923 is a prequel series that follows the Dutton family as they battle the Great Depression in Montana. Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren star.
Watch on Paramount+: December 18
Emily in Paris: Season 3 — With creator and showrunner Darren Star still at the helm, everyone’s favorite soapy rom-com about an American marketing exec turned expat in France returns for its 3rd season next week.
Watch on Netflix: December 21The Head: Season 2 — The thrilling Spanish miniseries The Head, about mysterious murders at a remote outpost in Antarctica, turned out not to be a miniseries after all! If you haven’t seen the first season yet, I highly recommend that you do that now so you’ll be ready for the second season when it drops next week. (Read my season 1 review here).
Watch on HBO Max: December 22
The Recruit: Season 1 — A rookie CIA lawyer gets in over his head when a former asset threatens to expose agency secrets. Fans of the To All the Boys movie franchise might be excited to see Noah Centineo as the lead in this new series, stepping out of the romantic comedy and trying on international politics and espionage for size.
Watch on Netflix: December 16
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin
Keywords: spin-off, comedy, a cappella music
Watch if you like: Pitch Perfect, High School Musical: The Series, Glee
Jess’s Rating: D+
The Pitch Perfect spin-off that literally no one asked for follows the least likable character from the movies, Bumper, as he embarks on a journey to Berlin in the hopes of becoming an international pop star. Adam DeVine returns as the titular character and is joined by Sarah Hyland and Jameela Jamil as Bumper’s love interest and German pop-singing rival, respectively.
My standards were low going into this, and they should’ve been lower. With a cast of seasoned comedy actors, the show is surprisingly un-funny. The script is full of predictable one-liners and a ton of jokes about how Germany is way better than the US (is Peacock trying to break into a new audience?). For a show about musicians, the music is inexcusably atrocious, full of bad a cappella covers and a lot of auto-tuned Sarah Hyland and Jameela Jamil. Pitch Perfect was such a hit, in part, because the a cappella singing was actually enjoyable to listen to, and these creators should’ve realized that was key.
If you want a fluffy, predictable, background show, then Bumper in Berlin will serve its purpose. I wasn’t counting down the minutes for it to be over, but I will probably never think about it again now that it’s done.
— Jess
Length: 30-min runtime, 1 season / 6 episodes
Watch on: Peacock
Something From Tiffany’s
Keywords: holiday, romcom, NYC
Watch if you like: bad hallmark-esque movies with a glimmer of promise, quickly snuffed out by bad acting, writing, and pacing
Jenni’s Rating: D+
Over the last few weeks, my TV time has been split between episodes of The White Lotus season 1 (yes, I’m very behind) and a wide array of bad-to-middling holiday romcoms. Something From Tiffany’s is my latest conquest in the latter bucket.
Based on a book by the same name, the story follows a NYC-based baker (Zoey Deutch) and a single father (Kendrick Sampson) whose lives become entangled due to a package mixup. When an engagement ring is swapped with a pair of earrings on Christmas morning… well, you can probably guess the rest.
The holiday romcom is a genre I hold very dear to my heart, and I so wanted to like this new addition to the pack. It seemed like it had all the ingredients for success up front — a cute, if semi-unbelievable setup, the charisma of Zoey Deutch, a supportive best friend character with dry wit and punchy one-liners — and yet after about 20 minutes, I began to lose hope. Unfortunately, I have to report an extreme lack of chemistry between the two main characters and an upsetting lack of acting ability on the part of the leading man. As charming as she is, Deutch could not carry this movie alone. While Something From Tiffany’s is not the modern day Serendipity I was hoping it’d be, it might still be worth a watch if you’re really in the mood for something syrupy and feel-good. But I’d urge you to go in with low expectations. Actually, maybe just skip it and watch Serendipity again instead.
— Jenni
Length: 87 minutes
Watch on: Amazon Prime
Your shows, returned:
The Game, Season 2: Premieres December 15 on Paramount+
Harry & Meghan: Volume 2: Premieres December 15 on Netflix
Paradise PD, Season 4: Premieres December 16 on Netflix
Emily in Paris, Season 3: Premieres December 21 on Netflix
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Season 3: Premieres December 21 on Prime Video
I Am A Killer, Season 4: Premieres December 21 on Netflix
The Head, Season 2: Premieres December 22 on HBO Max
Alice in Borderland, Season 2: Premieres December 22 on Netflix
I Hate Suzie, Season 2: Premieres December 22 on HBO Max
Upcoming new releases:
Love for the Ages: Premieres December 15 on Peacock
The Parent Test: Premieres December 15 on ABC
The Recruit: Premieres December 16 on Netflix
Cook at all Costs: Premieres December 16 on Netflix
Litvinenko: Premieres December 16 on AMC+/Sundance Now
1923: Premieres December 18 on Paramount+
The Wheel: Premieres December 19 on NBC