February 5, 2024
The best of Apple TV who struck gold early on with the Ted Lasso series and word of mouth made it one of the most popular programmes of recent times.
Bad Monkey
Adapted from the novel by Carl Hiassen and if you are familiar with his work, you’ll know it will involve multiple strands of dark humour that are refreshingly different and laugh out loud.
Bad Monkey tells the story of Andrew Yancy (played by Vaughn), a one-time detective demoted to restaurant inspector in Southern Florida. A severed arm found by a tourist out fishing pulls Yancy into the world of greed and corruption that decimates the land and environment in both Florida and the Bahamas.
It’s a perfect part for Vaughn and he’s aided by a good supporting cast including Rob Delaney best known to us for his part in Catastrophe.
Ted Lasso
It’s a series that shouldn’t really work – it’s football, has no real recognisable stars (not at the time anyway) but it’s feelgood and we all like that.
It’s driven by the optimism and determination of an American football coach hired to manage an English soccer team. That he knows nothing about soccer and has been set up to fail, is what drives the initial narrative and it’s how the other characters evolve over the three series that sets up the finale.
You don’t need to like or have an interest in soccer to enjoy a great series that knows to bow out whilst on top.
Big Beasts
A 10-part docuseries about elephants, seals, brown bears, orangutans, giant otters, and all kinds of massive mammals.
Narrated by Tom Hiddleston and beautifully shot, this is very much an easy and pleasant watch.
The Morning Show
One of the first big spends on the channel, this stars Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell as stars of a breakfast news programme.
Those familiar with the excellent The Newsroom that starred Jeff Daniels, will see parallels as big issues are tackled. It may not have the depth of The Newsroom but it rattles along and a Series 3 has just aired.
Hijack
Idris Elba is always a commanding screen presence and he plays corporate negotiator Sam who’s travelling to London on a plane when it is hijacked.
This is a masterclass in how to dial up the tension and then dial it down again, by lacing the minor cast with many stereotypes (the stressed mum, the roving eye pilot, the irate vicar, the know it all marketing executive). What keeps this going is it takes time before the reason for the hijack is revealed. All in all an entertaining drama.
Lessons in Chemistry
In the 1950s, Elizabeth Zott’s dream of being a scientist is challenged by a society that says women belong in the domestic sphere.
Then she accepts a job on a TV cooking show and sets out to teach a nation of housewives way more than recipes.
Based on the best-selling book, it’s a love story with twists and turns and beautifully produced.
Thoroughly recommended as is the book, a personal favourite.
Slow Horses
The third series of this excellent drama, based on the Mick Herron novels, more than makes up for an underwhelming second series.
As ever Gary Oldham, as Jackson Lamb, commands centre stage as the kebab-loving, chain-smoking, drunken slob who claims to be terrible at his job but is actually embarrassingly competent.
He leads the MI5 team at Slough House ably supported by other demoted spies whom Lamb considers to be useless at their jobs but for whom there is well hidden fondness. Ruling above them all is a haughty Kristin Scott Thomas who operates from the much smarter MI5 Regency offices and has an equally well hidden soft spot for Lamb.
It is funny and crude, but tense and gripping, and as such, it is a roundly entertaining, solid spy thriller that wallows in shabbiness with fondness all around.
A fourth series is now available and the show remains brilliantly slippery – in the world of espionage, nothing is quite as it seems.
WeCrashed
One of the hottest genres on television are cases of executive grifters, and Apple has added to the Elizabeth Holmes-style discourse with their limited series on failed WeWork CEO Adam Neumann.
Starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway, the aptly named WeCrashed dramatizes the meteoric rise and fall of the shared workspace startup.
It’s scarcely believable that SoftBank could make a 20 billion investment off the back of 17 minute cab ride but then much of this story is a fantasy tale.
Pachinko
Adapted from Min Jin Lee’s novel, “Pachinko” takes viewers on an emotional journey through four generations of a Korean family spanning the 20th century.
From a quaint fishing village in Japanese-occupied Korea to the bustling streets of 1980s Tokyo, the story revolves around Sunja and her family, united by love, hope, and resilience.
With its seamless blend of timelines, settings, and characters, “Pachinko” is a visually stunning and emotionally resonant masterpiece that transcends the boundaries between cinema and television.
That said, I watched the first series whilst never quite engaging with rave reviews it received, despite its high production values, patient pacing and depth of characterisation. A feeling that persists with Series 2 and perhaps it’s because I just don’t engage with the heroine, Sunja.
Bad Sisters
Sharon Horgan’s darkly comedic masterpiece, “The Bad Sisters,” follows the captivating story of Eva, Grace, Ursula, Bibi, and Becka.
These titular sisters find themselves embroiled in an investigation led by a local insurance man following the death of Grace’s abusive husband, John Paul, portrayed brilliantly by Claes Bang.
With stellar performances from Anne Marie-Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, and Eve Hewson, this Irish comedy has garnered well-deserved acclaim from both critics and audiences alike since its debut.
If you like science fiction, there a number of series on Apple TV that have had good reviews – Silo where humanity lives after the apocalypse; Foundation based on the Isaac Asimov novels now has a second season and Severance which many say is the best Apple TV series. A procedure separates memories of work from those at home and what happens when that starts to unravel.
You need to sign up or be logged in to leave a comment.