Apple TV - page 72

After a bumpy start, the Apple TV+ reboot of Amazing Stories headed off in an agreeable direction. Between its heart-on-the-sleeve emotional core and the very modern, depressive look at the deflation of the American dream, this is a show that understands why people need to believe in the impossible today.

Episode 4, titled “Signs of Life,” might not be a perfect hour of television. However, it’s got its heart in the right place. And a host of excellent elements make its story beats hit with extra force.

The latest episode of the Steven Spielberg executive produced sci-fi anthology series Amazing Stories is available to check out on Apple TV+.

The fourth of five standalone episodes, “Signs of Life,” tells the story of a teenager who struggles to reconnect with the stranger that is their mother after she awakens from a six-year coma. It landed on Apple TV+ Friday morning.

If staying at home saves lives during the coronavirus pandemic, then binging on TV is your civic duty.

Networks and streaming services are stepping up to help us sacrifice, offering loads of free programming for any device while we wait out stay-at-home orders. Much of what we’re about to tell you in this guide to free streaming is available on a variety of platforms, from Apple TV to the iPhone, iPad, Macs and smart TVs. Chances are good you’ve already got everything you need to take advantage of these freebies.

Apple TV+ is about to get an all-new murder mystery show that will have viewers questioning how far they would go to defend their innocent children. The first official trailer for the upcoming murder mystery series Defending Jacob landed on YouTube Thursday ahead of the show’s release next month and it looks absolutely riveting.

Starring Chris Evans, Defending Jacob is about a small-town assistant district attorney whose family life is upended when his teenage son is accused of murder. While Evans is billed as the top actor for the series the first trailer reveals he’s surrounded by some other incredibly talents actors, such as J.K. Simmons and five-time Tony Award nominee Cherry Jones.

Watch the tension-filled first trailer right here:

It’s a surprise to no one that video streaming services are seeing big surges in demand while everyone is stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it seems Apple TV+ is missing out.

While the likes of Netflix, HBO Now, and Disney+ have seen sharp increases in subscribers in recent weeks, according to a new report, the number of people turning to Apple TV+ has hardly risen at all.

YouTube viewers are set to see a big drop in video quality worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Alphabet-owned streaming giant revealed that it will reduce the quality of all videos to standard definition starting today as a way to alleviate internet congestions due to more people having to shelter in place.

Disney+, the streaming service from the Walt Disney Company, launched in the early hours of Tuesday morning across the United Kingdom and six European countries, but at reduced bandwidth and video quality after a government request to ease the strain on broadband networks.

Cult of Mac confirmed that the Disney+ app and service are available on the Apple TV App Store in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.

In tvOS 14, Apple reportedly plans to give parents new controls over what their children watch on Apple TV devices. The tvOS update also will give parents the ability to control the amount of time their kids spend watching Apple TV content, according to a report published Monday.

Israeli website The Verifier also renewed speculation that Cupertino will announce a new 128GB Apple TV streaming device later this year. And it could come with a new Apple TV remote design.

Apple TV+ has launched a surprise interview series with former talk show Oprah Winfrey talking about the global coronavirus pandemic. In its first episode, Winfrey spoke to actor Idris Eba, one of several celebrities to test positive for COVID-19.

The series – entitled “Oprah Talks COVID-19“- debuted Saturday, with little production value for a quick-to-air show. Winfrey’s first installment features FaceTime interviews with Elba and his wife, Sabrina Dhowre. 

Netflix is stepping up to help people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by creating a $100 million fund that will go to support production and other workers in the industry.

The moves comes after production on nearly all major TV shows and movies has come to a grinding halt as more states and cities in act stay-at-home mandates.

Mired in scandal and plagued by delays, the debut fiction film purchased by Apple TV+ is finally here to stream, just in time for everyone in America to be trapped with little else but their TVs.

The Banker, starring Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson, likely won’t top many best-of lists this year. It’s too slight, though neither does it embarrass itself in the telling of a compelling true story about overcoming discrimination in a racist world.

Following a request to streaming services to switch from high definition to standard in an effort to reduce the strain on the internet, indications were Friday that Apple has followed suit of other major services and slowed down its Apple TV+ streaming service.

Cult of Mac has confirmed through two Apple TV users – one in Great Britain and one in southern France – that the quality of content on Apple TV+ has been lowered. Subscribers described the differences as primarily fast-moving content that is slower to refresh, heavily compressed and more pixelated.

The Apple TV+ reboot of Amazing Stories started with a warning most viewers likely heeded: The show is going to be maudlin, and it will broadcast its emotional and dramatic beats from a mile away. Thankfully, having thrown down that gauntlet, the threat turned into a promise worth keeping. Each episode has been an improvement on the pilot.

“Dynoman and the Volt,” the third episode of the series, has quite a lot to recommend it. Enough, in fact, that it becomes easy to overlook its obvious storytelling and only half-earned poignancy.

After a brief theatrical run to make it eligible for awards season, Apple TV+ movie The Banker made its debut on the streaming service Friday.

The movie, based on a true story, stars Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson as Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris, two of the first black bankers in the United States. To get around discriminatory Jim Crow-era laws, they hire a white man (played by Nicholas Hoult) to be the face of their business, while they pose as a chauffeur and janitor.

Trapped indoors with nothing to watch during the COVID-19 quarantine, or just sick of your usual streaming options? Apple TV+ harbors a day’s worth of exciting and compelling programming to finally dig into.

For anyone looking for an excuse to finally give the streaming service a try, here’s a guide to some standout shows. Not every Apple TV+ series is a slam dunk, but there are hidden gems waiting to be binged during these uncertain times.

Apple documentary Beastie Boys Story won’t debut on Imax screens on April 2 as planned. The COVID-19 pandemic is shutting down too many theaters.

But the Spike Jonze biopic about the classic rap group will debut on the Apple TV+ streaming service April 24 as scheduled.

One of the easiest ways to pirate movies and TV shows is back just in time for the great stay-at-home coronavirus quarantine party of 2020.

Popcorn Time, the legendary app that was basically a Netflix for privacy, announced its return Tuesday on Twitter, saying its newest build, called “Love in the Time of Corona Version 0.4,” is available for download.

Grab it while you can.

Apple employees at the company’s Culver City offices may have been exposed to COVID-19 after an employee tested positive for the virus. Culver City is Apple’s entertainment hub where much of the work on Apple TV+ and Apple Music is done.

The second episode of the redesigned Amazing Stories finds its legs with a story of a track star caught between life and death.

If showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have anything even a fraction as good as this up their sleeves for the rest of the season, Amazing Stories might prove the strongest of Apple TV+ shows, considering its short episode order.

Apple has suspended all filming of Apple TV+ projects currently in production, according to a published report Friday.

The shows include the science fiction series For All Mankind, the Stephen King miniseries Lisey’s Story, the science fiction drama See, the TV drama The Morning Show, the psychological horror television series Servant, and the Isaac Asimov sci-fi series Foundation.

In our new Pick Your Streaming Service & Device Giveaway, you’ve got a crack at winning a combo that will keep you binge-watching whatever you want for a year.

Enter now for a chance to win the streaming hardware of your choice, along with a year’s subscription to any streaming service. Total prize value: up to $1,000!

A second Apple TV+ production has taken a COVID-19-related hiatus. Apple and Skydance Television closed the set of Foundation, an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction trilogy.

A new episode of Apple TV+ original series Amazing Stories landed Friday. This installment, titled “The Heat,” is the second of five in this first season of Steven Spielberg’s rebooted sci-fi anthology series.

Apple’s description reads as follows: “Tuka and Sterling are best friends whose bond transcends the physical world as they follow their dreams after tragedy strikes.”

Apple reportedly signed the contracts it needs to keep streaming songs from the biggest labels. However, there supposedly was no mention in the agreements of an “Apple Prime” that would bundle this company’s music and video streaming services.

The cast and crew of The Morning Show will halt production for two weeks over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.

The break is a precaution and not because of possible exposure. The series studio, Media Res, and Apple made the decision together, according to reports.