The big American heart in the body of the United Kingdom is beating again. Ted Lasso is back for another season of relentless positivity, and fans of the hit Apple TV+ comedy can rest easy. They know exactly what they’re getting.
The title character, played by Saturday Night Live alum Jason Sudeikis, returns for more unorthodox soccer coaching with his deep bench of homespun aphorisms intact. In short, if you liked the first season — and who didn’t? — you’ll enjoy this one as well.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games officially kicks off on Friday, June 23, and you can enjoy it all on Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and Mac. We’ll guide you through who’s hosting the action, and which apps you’ll need to watch it.
Although The Problem with Jon Stewart doesn’t premiere on Apple TV+ until September, the comedian couldn’t let Jeff Bezos’ and Richard Branson’s personal space race go by without comment. Stewart posted a video Tuesday making fun of billionaires competing to see who can shoot off a better rocket.
The humor isn’t subtle. Many jokes have been made about how much Bezos’ New Shepard rocket looks like a penis, and Stewart takes the idea and runs with it. If watching a video of giant space penises is going to get you in trouble at work, maybe you’d better wait until you get home to see this one.
If not, watch the mockery now:
Apple is looking to lease a massive production campus in movie capital Los Angeles for future Apple TV+ productions, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The Cupertino company is looking at several possible locations for the hub, which could exceed half a million square feet. Apple already leases several soundstage in LA and elsewhere.
Apple TV+ won four Daytime Emmy Awards over the weekend, with Here We Are: Notes For Living on Planet Earth picking up Outstanding Special Class Daytime Animated Program and an Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for 3D animator Anne Moth.
Apple also won Outstanding Editing for a Preschool Animated Program for editors Jill Calhoun and Jack Paulson on Stillwater. And Helpsters picked up the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Multiple Camera Editing.
In total, Apple’s streaming service earned 25 Daytime Emmy nominations this year. The four wins is two more than Apple TV+ received last year, when it won for Ghostwriter and Peanuts in Space.
The awards were handed out Saturday night.
With a murderers’ row of talent behind and in front of the camera, and nods to handsome musicals and TV of the past, Schmigadoon! could become a major crossover hit for Apple TV+.
The new musical comedy injects a thoroughly modern sensibility into the classic Brigadoon storyline. Loaded with the obligatory singing and dancing you’d expect, it’s good and occasionally great.
If you like musicals, you’ll almost certainly love Schmigadoon!. The only question is, is the public’s thirst for musical theater enough to sell this high-concept gamble?
The time has come for a bool hunt in Lisey’s Story! In the Apple TV+ series finale, Lisey and Dooley reach their final showdown — and get their last look at the brutal past just in the rearview mirror.
It’s a fitting end to the Stephen King-written miniseries about the widow of a famous writer and the crazed superfan who hunts her down. If you’re an Apple TV+ subscriber and haven’t watched this show yet, a rewarding binge awaits.
Hit comedy Ted Lasso put another one into the back of the net for Apple TV+. Or it put another 20 there, if you like. The show notched 20 Emmy nominations today, breaking the record for a first-year comedy that Glee set in 2010 with 19.
The second season of Ted Lasso doesn’t premiere until July 23 but critics given early access absolutely love the upcoming episodes. The season two of the Apple TV+ comedy has a 100% approval rating from the review-aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Do you miss the Jon Stewart era of The Daily Show? Are you fully vaccinated for Covid-19 and willing to prove it? Can you get to New York City with haste? If you answered “yes,” then you can watch July in-studio tapings of Apple TV+ current-affairs show The Problem with Jon Stewart for free.
The popular Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso notched more nominations than any other show for the inaugural HCA TV Awards, with eight. Apple TV+ got 15 nominations overall.
Lisey has both of her sisters by her side as crazed stalker Jim Dooley approaches for their final showdown. But is everything as cut-and-dried as it appears?
The penultimate episode of Lisey’s Story, the Stephen King miniseries on Apple TV+, has one last round of games to play.
Director Todd Haynes’ first foray into documentary filmmaking, The Velvet Underground, got rave reviews after its world premiere Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival. And that bodes well for the music doc’s debut on Apple TV+ and in theaters on October 15.
Apple has teamed up with the BBC for a documentary that will provide a timeline of the President of the United States in the hours after the 9/11 attacks. 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room will debut on Apple TV+ this September, marking the 20th anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
Narrated by actor Jeff Daniels, the documentary will include never-before-seen testimony from former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, chief of staff Andy Card, director of communications Dan Bartlett, and many, many others. It will also include filmed archive and close to 200 previously unpublished photographs.
Ahead of the second season of hit comedy Ted Lasso debuting on Apple TV+ on July 23, Apple has debuted a new promo video that’s part trailer and part behind-the-scenes video.
However, rather than telling viewers about how the show is made (which, let’s face it, in promo featurettes is pretty much just every cast member saying how great every other cast member is), the new video — titled “Ted Lasso — The Lasso Way” — reflects on the show’s positive message.
The cast members talk about why positivity is so importance, and how they’ve heard from viewers who have been touched by the themes the show explores. Check it out below.
Apple TV (the hardware, not the streaming service) makes up around 12.5% of set-top boxes in a very fragmented marketplace, according to analysis from Parks Associates.
That lags behind Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV Box, which currently stand neck-and-neck. Nonetheless, Apple TV ranks a few percentage points ahead of Google’s Chromecast. Back in 2017, Chromecast came in ahead of Apple TV. And, as recently as 2018 and 2019, the two remained competitive.
Cult of Mac‘s review of Apple TV+ crime drama Defending Jacob, said that it was the first show to truly justify the existence of Apple’s streaming TV service. Now it’s got another first under its belt: The first Apple TV+ series to receive a physical media release.
On Tuesday, the show was given a Blu-ray and DVD release, making it the first Apple TV+ show to receive that treatment. Even the likes of The Morning Show and Ted Lasso, Apple’s biggest hits to date, have not been released in this way.
The Cult of Mac Store just kicked off its big Fourth of July sale, offering 15% off all items when you spend $50 or more.
Take your pick from some of the best iPhone, iPad and AirPods cases, stands, Apple Watch bands and more — all hand-picked and approved by members of the Cult of Mac team.
The offer ends today, so enjoy it while you can!
Apple TV+ just keeps adding new movies and shows, but how many people are watching? Only Apple knows for sure.
An entertainment industry expert takes a look at the current state of Apple TV+ — and outlines what the future might hold for the streaming video service. Read the Q&A to find out what “success” might look like for Apple TV+.
That’s our cover story in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Download it to read on your iPhone or iPad, or get the links to the week’s top Apple news, reviews and how-tos below.
A year and a half in, Apple TV+ remains something of a black box. Ever since the streaming video service’s launch in November 2019, Cupertino has refused to reveal hard data about just how well Apple TV+ is doing.
In some respects, the future looks promising. Apple TV+ continues to add high-profile projects to its production queue. Apple TV+ shows and movies continue to rack up awards. And upcoming originals like an epic sci-fi adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and the second season of surprise hit Ted Lasso are generating buzz.
Plus, with the original one-year free trials ending — and new free Apple TV+ trials slashed to just three months — the $4.99-a-month streaming service seems increasingly confident about its value proposition for viewers.
Still, the Apple TV+ library continues to be dwarfed by rivals like Netflix and Disney+.
So what does the future hold? And what does “success” look like for Apple TV+ anyway? Cult of Mac asked the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a pseudonymous entertainment executive who writes about the business, how Apple TV+ is faring and what to expect next. His responses have been lightly edited for clarity.
With a showdown on the horizon, Lisey gets back in touch with her sisters — in the most intense way imaginable — in this week’s installment of Lisey’s Story, the fantastical Apple TV+ series based on Stephen King’s novel.
It’s only a matter of time before Lisey has to take down her foes, real and imaginary, and she’s gonna need all the help she can get.
The bestseller City on Fire will be adapted into a series for Apple TV+. The story of a tangled murder investigation will be written by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who’ve worked on multiple successful TV series together.
You can get the best part of this year’s Apple TV update — the totally redesigned Siri Remote — at a healthy $9 off from Verizon Wireless right now. It’s the first discount we’ve seen on the new Apple TV remote, and it drops the price to just $49.99 with free shipping.
By buying the remote separately, current Apple TV owners gain major benefits while avoiding the big (and mostly pointless) investment in the pricey new set-top box. And you don’t need to be a Verizon Wireless subscriber to jump on this hot deal, either.
Apple has teamed up with Earvin “Magic” Johnson and other producers to develop a new drama series, according to a new report. The show will tell the stories of baseball legend Leroy “Satchel” Paige and the Negro Leagues.
Apple has landed a combined 25 Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Apple TV+ originals.
Ghostwriter, Helpsters, Long Way Up and others have been recognized in the Children’s & Animation and Lifestyle categories. Winners will be announced by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on July 17 and July 18, 2021.