Apple TV+ - page 42

There are strangers in the house on this week’s Servant, the Apple TV+ show about the absurd goings on in a Philadelphia townhouse.

Writer Tony Basgallop and director/producer M. Night Shyamalan continue to reap rich rewards from showing what it looks like when the kookiest people in town try to do things normally. Mystic nightmare nanny Leanne thinks every shadow is a murderer, and Dorothy doesn’t seem to think anything is wrong.

The truth likely lies somewhere in between, but who knows if they can keep it together long enough to discover what’s really going on.

This week the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America recognized Apple TV+ content with a pile of award nominations — five in the DGA Awards and four in the PGA Awards, both set to take place in March.

Apple TV+’s newest comedy The Afterparty is a lifeless, listless and laughless murder mystery in seven parts told by dozens of narrators. The premise is novel: Each episode, the first three of which premiere Friday, parodies a different storytelling genre.

Executive produced, written and directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord of The Lego Movie fame — and starring a who’s who of contemporary comedians — the show had everything going for it. It is, however, an almost complete misfire.

The Afterparty is neither funny nor fun enough to ever create an identity stronger than any of what it’s lampooning.

For the first time ever, Apple TV+ has offered the first episode of an Apple Original series — the crime comedy The Afterparty — on YouTube, where you can watch it in full for free.

That’s a promotional angle we haven’t seen before from the Cupertino tech giant. But will it work?

The first tvOS 15.4 beta brings an improved video player with a built-in “Up Next” queue to Apple TV. The update, released Thursday by Apple, also allows users to connect to captive Wi-Fi networks for the first time.

The changes come after Apple TV got a completely redesigned video player with larger titles and more accessible subtitles in tvOS 15 last fall.

Skydance Animation’s Luck will be the second full-length animated film on Apple TV+ when it premieres in August 2022. The story of the unluckiest person in the world will feature the voices of Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg and other stars.

While the release date and additional details on the film were revealed Wednesday, there is as yet no trailer.

Getting video files to play on your TV is not always as simple as it should be — but the smart Airflow video streaming app makes it easier than ever. And right now, you can get a lifetime subscription to Airflow, on sale for just $15.99. That’s a 20% discount.

Apple TV+ garners 5% of the U.S. streaming video market, according to a company that follows the industry. While that makes Apple TV+ a small player, the service started 2021 with just a 3% share, so the year saw significant growth.

Its two largest rivals, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, saw drops in their shares of the streaming market in 2021.

Thanks to its partnership with The Jim Henson Company, the creative force behind The Muppets and Sesame Street, Apple TV+ has finally given the people what they want: more Fraggles.

Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, a faithful and fun reboot of the cult hit puppet show from the ’80s, arrives Friday on Apple TV+ with its verve and good vibes intact.

While the Fraggles never quite rose to the popularity of the Sesame Street gang or Kermit and his friends, they did inspire some passionate fans. It’s a joy to be back at Fraggle Rock, even with the few concessions made to appease a more modern audience.

In a new ad, Mad Men star Jon Hamm scrolls through the movies and shows on Apple TV+ and notes a conspicuous lack of Jon Hamm.

“Hey Apple, did I do something to offend you?” the actor asks.

The interrupted second season of Central Park will resume on March 4. The Apple TV+ musical comedy has eight more episodes with the madcap adventures of the Tillerman family.

The series has garnered multiple Emmy nominations, and the first half of the second season has a amazing 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Servant, the bleakest and most thrillingly deranged show on Apple TV+, returns for a third season Friday. The Turner family and their mystic nightmare nanny have finally turned some corners from which they cannot return. Now it’s time to see what the writers have planned for this gang of thieves, liars and sinners.

Director/producer M. Night Shyamalan and writer Tomy Basgallop’s brainchild turns three today — and I couldn’t be happier to attend the party.

Apple TV+ is making a series set in Legendary’s MonsterVerse that includes movies like Godzilla vs. Kong. The show will be live action, and continue the story of humanity’s battle to survive in a world populated with city-crushing behemoths.

Apple TV+ will premiere The Sky Is Everywhere, a story of love and loss, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

A trailer for the upcoming film debuted Thursday, giving viewers a first look at a young woman simultaneously dealing with the death of her sister and her first love.

The Visual Effects Society nominated Apple TV+ titles Tuesday for seven honors in its 20th Annual VES Awards, including the Tom Hanks film Finch and the epic sci-fi series Foundation.

The first trailer for the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed focuses on the eerie cult of personality that WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann built before his company crashed. The series will star Jared Leto as Neumann, with Anne Hathaway playing his wife (and fellow WeWork exec), Rebekah.

The series will portray “the love story at the center of it all,” according to Apple. The streaming service also revealed on Wednesday the premiere date for the WeWork series: March 18, 2022.

Five Apple TV+ Original films and three series received a total of nine nominations Tuesday for the upcoming 53rd annual NAACP Image Awards.

Last year the streaming service netted 11 nominations and won Outstanding Independent Motion Picture for The Banker.

Netflix has raised its prices for subscribers in the United States and Canada so that it “can continue to offer a wide variety of quality entertainment options.”

Its premium plan, which offers 4K content, is now $19.99 a month. The company’s most affordable subscription, which allows only one stream at a time, is up to $9.99 a month, making it the most expensive video service.

The Tragedy of Macbeth is probably the most experimental thing to stream on Apple TV+ so far.

On its face, the film doesn’t seem all that odd. It’s an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most well-regarded and most frequently performed plays, starring the biggest male lead on earth. It’s directed by a multiple-Oscar-winner and features his similarly lauded (and extremely popular and talented) wife in a lead role.

So, while Apple TV+’s most exciting feature film since Wolfwalkers might not sound like much of an experiment, the devil’s in the details. This adaptation is both expected and unexpected — in frequently thrilling ways.

The Tragedy of Macbeth hits Apple TV+ today after a theatrical run. Here’s why you should add it to your Up Next queue.

Ted Lasso, The Morning Show and CODA racked up multiple nominations in the 2002 Screen Actors Guild Awards, helping to further polish the reputation of the Apple TV+. The Tragedy of MacBeth wasn’t overlooked by the SAG wards, either.

Apple’s streaming service was a standout, with Ted Lasso tied for the most nominations for any series.

The first trailer for Suspicion, a new Apple TV+ thriller starring Uma Thurman, sets up the series’ intriguing storyline.

After the son of a prominent American businesswoman, played by Thurman, is kidnapped from a New York hotel, four seemingly ordinary British citizens who just happened to be there that night find themselves caught up in an investigation.

Apple TV+ might be ready to play in the big leagues. Major League Baseball, to be exact. The company reportedly engaged in “substantial talks” with MLB about acquiring the rights to stream games.

If such a deal comes together, it would be a game-changer for Apple’s streaming service.

Apple TV+ renewed the hit series The Morning Show, starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, for a third season, the company said Monday. The streaming service also signed a multiyear deal with WGA Award winner Charlotte Stoudt to be the third season’s showrunner and executive producer, and to produce other scripted series.

In addition to Stoudt (whose credits include Fosse/Verdon, Homeland and House of Cards), Aniston and Witherspoon serve as executive producers on The Morning Show, which has won Emmy, SAG and Critics Choice awards. It is directed by Mimi Leder and produced by the studio Media Res, Hello Sunshine and Echo Films.

In 2021, Jason Sudeikis won the first-ever Golden Globe for Apple TV+. On Sunday night he repeated, again winning the Best Television Actor in a musical or comedy award for his leading role in the streaming service’s comedy hit Ted Lasso.

And just like in 2021, Sudeikis’ win was the only one for Apple TV+, despite a handful of other nominations.

Apple TV+’s newest animated kids show is all about accessibility. El Deafo, based on the book by Cece Bell, focuses on a little girl who loses her hearing just before the start of school. She goes on misadventures as she learns to navigate the world with the help of her imaginary superhero alter ego. And she learns to love herself in the process.

The show is, if anything, a little too effective at making you feel for this young girl’s struggles. El Deafo is at times too affecting and sad for words — much to the credit of the writer, performers and animators. But it’s an open question whether kids are ready to feel so much on top of everything they’re already dealing with.