With a new school year looming, it’s time to celebrate educators. Apple TV+ did just that Friday when it dropped a trailer for Lucy’s School, an all-new Peanuts special that debuts on the streaming service August 12.
For those who grew up with Peanuts, it’s comforting that the classic series based on classic Charles M. Schulz comics lives on. Lucy’s School adds to the growing list of seasonal features following Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and the rest of the gang.
★★☆☆☆
Glossy mystery series Surface gets off to a bumpy, soapy start this week on Apple TV+. Gugu Mbatha-Raw (who you might know from The Morning Show) stars as Sophie, a woman who lost her memory after what could have been an accident or a suicide attempt.
Like Truth Be Told, another Apple TV+ series from producer Reese Witherspoon, this one is a prestige look at a woman undergoing a lot of changes in her life as the result of crime … or is it?
The Garvey sisters vowed to always take care of each other, which leads them toward murdering their abusive brother-in-law. Their scheme plays out in Bad Sisters, a creation of Irish actress, writer and producer Sharon Horgan, who is known for her darkly funny shows.
The comedy/thriller series debuts on Apple TV+ in August, and a trailer debuted Wednesday.
Fans of the office comedy Mythic Quest on Apple TV+ will be relieved to hear the show’s coming back for season 3. That news was confirmed and a teaser trailer was unveiled Saturday at a special panel about the show at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
The show’s cast and creators confirmed that the series will return this fall. And they rolled a first-look teaser for the third season that suggests it’ll be just as funny as the first two seasons. Have a look and a laugh at it, below.
★★★★☆
Black Bird, the Apple TV+ drama about a bad guy sent to ferret out a worse guy in the rottenest jail in America, takes a turn for the confessional this week. Probable serial killer Larry Hall and police informer Jimmy Keene tell each other some truths and some lies as they clean up the mess after a prison riot.
Larry starts to see the hidden side of Jimmy. And Jimmy starts to recognize the worst parts of himself — the ones that remind him of Larry. Black Bird’s been in a good place for two and a half episodes, and this latest one finds the show indulging in its strengths for an extended conversation between the two leads.
★★★☆☆
Apple TV+ comedy Loot goes on two dates this week. Molly, the billionaire who’s discovering what it’s like to have a conscience, has a suitor. And Nicholas learns the meaning of friendship when he comes to Howard’s aid.
As usual, the show’s niceties undercut its comedy every step of the way. And that’s a problem when you’re writing a sitcom starring America’s funniest woman.
★★☆☆☆
For All Mankind spins its wheels this week until a catastrophe in the back half of the episode. Danny’s losing it. Ed’s being Ed. Jimmy commits some low-level espionage. Ellen and Larry find themselves under a microscope. Aleida closes in on the truth. And Margo is losing everything.
A surprise cameo from one of history’s greatest monsters reinforces the lack of imagination on the part of a show whose only job is to imagine greater things.
★☆☆☆☆
This week on Physical, Sheila goes on the lam with Vincent Green in a drug-fueled, disco-scored bonding session.
The wheels on the Sheila Rubin’s aerobics train are clearly about to fall off — and she’s not even going to have the voice in her head to comfort her when all is said and done. It’s another annoying week filled with failed attempts at humor and humanity on Apple TV+’s fizzling ’80s flashback show.
Apple has dropped its lawsuit against Chicago’s “Netflix tax” after the two parties reached a settlement. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Chicago introduced a 9% tax on streaming platform subscribers in 2015. Apple sued the city in 2018 for allegedly violating the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act and the U.S. Constitution.
★☆☆☆☆
Trying, the Apple TV+ series that is the Full House to Ted Lasso’s Coach, returns this week for a richly unwarranted third season.
The show, a smug and naggingly pleasant look at two well-to-do narcissists who want to raise children for some reason, finally fulfills Jason and Nikki’s dream of parenthood after watching them not earn it for two long seasons.
Indeed there’s nothing unique or likable or notable at all about these two characters. Let’s see what happens to them now that they’ve brought a pair of children into their London home.
A new supernatural series for kids and families is coming to Apple TV+. The streaming service dropped a trailer for Surfside Girls Monday showing best surfer-girl friends solving supernatural mysteries in their sleepy California beach town.
And did we mention: pirates! They fit into this. There’s some sort of cave-portal and a pirate ship and a friendly boy who is, somehow, a pirate, apparently.
The adventurous mystery series debuts August 19 on Apple TV+.
★★★☆☆
Apple TV+’s newest limited series Black Bird hits its stride in a strong third installment.
Prison guards and inmates hound undercover informer Jimmy Keene as he tries to get close to suspected serial killer Larry Hall. McCauley and Miller search for harder evidence as time slips away from them. And outside prison walls, Big Jim is in a bind that affects little Jim.
Black Bird still has a little ways to go to be truly great, but so far this is a promising look at guys at the end of their ropes looking for a way out of very bad circumstances that they brought on themselves.
★★☆☆☆
In this week’s episode of Physical, Apple TV+’s death trip in spandex pumps the brakes to reconsider its priorities.
Aerobics star Sheila breaks her contract, reconnecting with Danny and Greta as she plots her next big move. But she remains selfish at heart, so nothing goes quite the way any of them had planned. Meanwhile, John and Maria plot one last attempt at salvation.
This week’s episode, titled “Don’t Try This at Home,” delivers some of the highest highs of the season, but still manages to blow a commanding lead in the home stretch.
★★☆☆☆
The Loot crew dons black tie and tails for a humanitarian gala this week. Billionaire divorcee Molly is being honored, hit on and insulted all at once. Arthur is starstruck. Howard is in crisis. And Nicholas is just happy to be in a tuxedo surrounded by rich people again.
The Apple TV+ comedy swings hard for big moments of personal empowerment through kindness and self-respect. That’s all well and good, but I came to this show for something a little more caustic.
★★☆☆☆
Apple TV+’s For All Mankind finally made it to Mars! Still, it’s pretty much business as usual this week, what with Americans and Russians bickering and making back-alley deals, and men being boorish and short-tempered and proud of nothing.
On Earth, U.S. President Ellen Wilson must deal with gays in the military right on schedule. And on Mars, Danny’s going nuts, Ed and his adopted daughter Kelly meet, and the Russians find water — and vodka!
A perfectly OK episode of the alt-history space show is made all the more frustrating by its flashes of greatness.
In new Apple TV+ documentary series Gutsy, Hillary Rodham Clinton and her daughter Chelsea Clinton will interview women the pair find inspirational.
The eight-part docuseries, based on the Clintons’ bestseller The Book of Gutsy Women, will premiere September 9, Apple said Thursday in a press release.
Released Wednesday, the first trailer for Five Days at Memorial depicts the agonizing decisions Hurricane Katrina forced on staff at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans in 2005. The storm itself was just the first of many horrors.
The drama series lands on Apple TV+ on August 12.
The Television Academy said Tuesday Apple TV+ received 51 Primetime Emmy nominations, including 20 for the hit comedy Ted Lasso.
That matches the show’s record-breaking number of Emmy nominations in 2021. And the psychological thriller Severance received 14 nominations this year, second most among the streaming service’s titles.
Amazon Prime Day runs officially on Tuesday and Wednesday, but many deals, including bargains on Apple gear, tend to creep in early.
Earlier today it was Apple Watch 7 hitting a new low price, and now it’s Apple TV 4K — now at its lowest price ever on Amazon.
★★☆☆☆
In “Seven Minutes of Terror,” Apple TV+ alt-history space race show For All Mankind returns this week to where it left off last season, with America and Russia once more holding hands begrudgingly to fix some space problems.
Ed and Karen have the same trouble with authority. Danny’s cracking up. Margo’s head is in a noose. Kelly’s got a crush. And Sojourner 1 suffers from a serious a problem.
Behind the scenes, WALL-E helmer Andrew Stanton directs this week. His brand of post-classical Hollywood craftsmanship is much appreciated, if also a sad sign of where we are as a country.
★★★☆☆
Apple TV+ comedy Loot takes a spa day today as Molly tries to relive her old lifestyle without her old life, and the rest of the office bonds over shared drinks and massages. Arthur and Molly think about each other more than friends do, but everywhere she goes reminds her of the life she lost to a younger model.
The show continues to make good inroads on character dynamics. However, Loot needs a little electricity in the writing to keep it from feeling like just another sitcom.
Apple TV+ garnered a record 53 nominations for 16 shows across a range of genres — comedy, drama, documentary, anthology series, variety-sketch series — for the upcoming Hollywood Critics Association Awards.
Psychological thriller Severance and comedy Ted Lasso led the way with a dozen nominations apiece.
★★☆☆☆
Apple TV+’s Physical has an incurable itch to break free this week. Both Sheila’s and John’s spouses know something is up. They try to help, but they can’t — because there’s no cure for being blackmailed by a vindictive Bunny.
John stares a new life in the face, a real one and an imaginary one. Sheila contemplates becoming an even worse version of herself. And Danny’s out of luck in every way he can be.
Brace yourself for more of the same bad behavior in this week’s episode, entitled “Don’t You Have Enough.”
★★★☆☆
Black Bird, the new Apple TV+ series about an inmate tasked with cozying up to a suspected serial killer, begins as a blustery and entirely too familiar tale of bad men doing bad things, without much to distract from the cliches.
However, armed with an impressive cast and crew — and one of the last performances by the great Ray Liotta — it eventually slots itself into good procedural habits.
The limited series, based on James Keene’s memoir In With the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption and developed by crime novelist Dennis Lehane, premieres Friday on Apple TV+. The first two episodes start off wobbly, but then chart a path toward true-crime greatness.
Feeling unlucky lately? Wouldn’t it be nice if a black cat who speaks English with a Scottish accent could take you to a magical land where luck is made?
Not bloody likely to happen, but you get the next best thing with Luck, the first full-length, 3D-animated film to hit Apple TV+, which offered a trailer for it Thursday.
It’s also the streamer’s first film through its exclusive deal with Skydance Animation. Look for Luck’s Apple TV+ debut on August 5.