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Opening day for Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+ is April 7

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Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+
"Friday Night Baseball" returns for a second season in early March.
Photo: Apple TV+

Friday Night Baseball heads back to the Apple TV+ ballpark on April 7. This is the second season for the series that features weekly doubleheaders of marquee MLB games.

When the sports show launched in 2022, it was free. But that was last year — the 2023 season is only for subscribers to Apple’s streaming service.

Roy Kent scores twice in game of life this week on Ted Lasso [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆

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Brett Goldstein in ★★☆☆
Roy Kent (played by Brett Goldstein, left) gets in touch with his emotions this week.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewTed Lasso, the Apple TV+ show about an American soccer coach killin’ em with kindness in London, finds a new player in the mix and new hurdles at work this week. AFC Richmond is being watched by an old adversary, Roy’s got big feelings for the first time in a while, and everybody’s buzzing about what happens next.

The episode, entitled “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” is an above-average outing for the mawkish football comedy. (It’s anyone’s guess if the upward trend will continue.)

Today in Apple history: Apple TV makes its big-screen debut

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Apple TV did not become an instant smash hit.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

March 21: Today in Apple history: Apple launches the Apple TV March 21, 2007: Apple launches the Apple TV, a gleaming white set-top box with a remote control, for bringing iTunes media to the living room.

Unfortunately, the device lacks key features needed to make it a killer entertainment system. It’s something of a missed opportunity for Apple.

Wrestling doc Monster Factory will body-slam you with truth [Apple TV+ review] ★★★★

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David Goldschmidt (aka Goldy) and Hurley A. Jones Jr. (aka Bobby Buffet) in “Monster Factory,” premiering on Friday, March 17 on Apple TV+.★★★★
David Goldschmidt (aka Goldy) and Hurley A. Jones Jr. (aka Bobby Buffet) are just two of the wrestlers we meet in Monster Factory.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ Review Monster Factory, a surprisingly inventive docuseries about wannabe pro wrestlers, is Apple TV+’s best sports docuseries yet. Over the course of its six breezy and beautiful episodes, set at a wrestling farm school in New Jersey, we meet a cast of eccentrics who share a common dream: to throw people around for a living.

They want to become stars, to go down in pro wrestling history. And with cantankerous Danny Cage as their coach, these ne’er-do-wells learn everything there is to know about wrestling — and they teach us, too.

Liaison unleashes some carnage this week [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Connor Mills, Nikolai Kinski and Eva Green in ★★★☆☆
Ulterior motives abound on Liaison.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ Review Apple TV+ international espionage thriller Liaison recovers from a few body blows this week, in an episode appropriately entitled “Carnage.”

Mark Bolton is dead and Alison might be next, but she won’t roll over for anyone, even with boyfriend and mercenary Gabriel trying to get her to see sense. Sabine wants out, Didier’s in the hot seat, Dumas is getting nervous, and London is still in danger. Liaisons pleasures are major even if it does feel deliberately minor in a lot of important ways.

Truth Be Told whipsaws through another killer episode [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Mychala Lee, Merle Dandridge and Mekhi Phifer in ★★★★☆
Truth Be Told positively brims with strong performances this week.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewThe search for a mayoral hopeful’s killer takes center stage on this week’s Truth Be Told, the Apple TV+ crime series told through the lens of podcaster Poppy.

Eva’s on the hunt for a killer, but is it a smokescreen for her own guilt? Poppy can’t decide. Markus is still acting out, and it’s getting in the way of his parenting. Plus, Poppy has some secrets of her own to spill. And fate has one last curveball to throw this crew before the season’s final inning.

Dear Edward drowns in guilt and funky fan mail [Apple TV+ recap] ★☆☆☆☆

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Colin O’Brien in ★☆☆☆☆
So. Many. Unbelievable. Letters.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewIt’s all about splitting and coming back this week on Dear Edward, the Apple TV+ series about the tangled web of grief in the wake of a plane crash.

In the episode, entitled “Paper Covers Rock,” Edward acts out at school and is rewarded with a crisis or two he wasn’t aware were coming his way. Plus, Linda goes into labor, Lacey is clueless, Dee Dee doesn’t want group to end, Adriana and Kojo don’t want their time together to end, and Steve and Amanda don’t want their affair to end.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, your Apple TV+ reviewer is anxious for this dreadful series to end. (The good news is, the end is nigh.)

Shrinking doesn’t really want to do ‘the work’ this week [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Jason Segel in ★★☆☆☆
You probably don't want a shrink like Jimmy (played by Jason Segel).
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewShrinking is all about reconciliation this week. The Apple TV+ show about the social circle of a manic pixie dream therapist sees Jimmy Laird trying to mend the rift between his hero, Paul, and his family.

Meanwhile, as Brian prepares for his wedding, he meets with nothing but disappointments and potential catastrophes. Gaby is caught between her rock and a hard place. And Alice makes a fateful mistake.

Everything comes out in the end in “Moving Forward,” this week’s whatever installment of the hit show that could have been an email.

Everyone’s pushing the panic button on Hello Tomorrow! [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Haneefah Wood in ★★★★☆
Shirley (played by Haneefah Wood) isn't the only one demanding answers this week on Hello Tomorrow!
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewHello Tomorrow!, the Apple TV+ show about a salesman running out of ways to talk himself out of damnation, flies into a panic this week. Jack’s celebrity spokesman goes missing, and if he’s found by the wrong people, it could blow his entire operation.

At the same time, Shirley’s starting to wonder about Jack’s lies, and Joey has just stopped believing him entirely. And when Herb gets a brief moment to shine, he blows it immediately. The episode, entitled “Another Day, Another Apocalypse,” delivers another great half-hour of the show with the most verve and wit of anything on the Apple TV+ lineup.

Extrapolations is a sprawling cli-fi disaster [Apple TV+ recap] ★☆☆☆☆

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Episode 1. Sienna Miller in ★☆☆☆☆
The world is ablaze in Extrapolations. Quick, somebody get a fire extinguisher!
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ Review Astonishingly overwritten and mega-ambitious sci-fi parable Extrapolations, which premiered today on Apple TV+, has a cast of thousands and more than a few things on its mind. None of what show creator Scott Z. Burns (who wrote Contagion and The Bourne Ultimatum) is saying in this show about the impact of climate change can be argued with. But the messages aren’t easily swallowed, either.

Rather than leave room for viewers to draw their own conclusions, Extrapolations sits you down and yells at you for 10 hours of dreary cli-fi drama. It’s certainly distinctive — but that’s not always a good thing.