Apple TV - page 3

Ted Lasso takes a stab at Total Football [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★

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Brett Goldstein, Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt in ★★★
Ted has a plan!
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ Review Ted Lasso, the Apple TV+ show dipped in positivity and marinated in feculence, sketches a few days in a few of its characters’ lives this week.

Ted, Beard and Roy attempt Total Football. Sam is hounded by the political climate. Keeley needs to learn when to say when, and Jamie has a breakthrough. An otherwise very strong episode of the biggest hit on Apple TV+ is undercut by the series’ usual foibles in the episode, entitled “The Strings That Bind Us.”

Giorgio blows it big time on The Big Door Prize [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Josh Segarra in ★★★★☆
Blowhard restaurateur Giorgio (played by Josh Segarra) can't get his mind off Cass.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ Review The Big Door Prize throws a gala this week in an emotional installment of the Apple TV+ show about a town upended by an apparently psychic machine.

Cass gives herself a huge project, and only Giorgio seems to be on her wavelength about its relative importance. Meanwhile, Dusty gets high, Father Reuben gets jealous, and Izzy goes on the warpath in a very successful episode, entitled “Giorgio.”

The verdict is in on Extrapolations’ finale [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Nick Bilton (played by Kit Harington) has been arrested, leaving his second-in-command Martha Russell★★☆☆☆
Billionaire Nick Bilton (played by Kit Harington, left) faces judgment in the Extrapolations finale.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewExtrapolations creator Scott Z. Burns brings his wildly misguided and ambitious Apple TV+ show about global warming, to a close this week the only way he possibly could: with a lengthy, boring courtroom drama

The cast comes out for a bow to sum up, loudly and with no subtext, all of Burns’ findings and thoughts about global climate change and how people need to do something about it. The Extrapolations finale, entitled “2070: Ecocide,” proves just as thrilling as it sounds.

Things get weird this week on The Last Thing He Told Me [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★

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Jennifer Garner and Angourie Rice in ★★★
The mystery deepens in The Last Thing He Told Me.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewThe Last Thing He Told Me, the new Apple TV+ thriller series about a woman and her moody teenage stepdaughter investigating a disappearance, finds the beleaguered pair in Austin, Texas, this week.

Revelations come fast and furious, and Bailey’s reluctant march toward the wrong conclusion keeps her on edge, while Hannah questions everything she thought she knew. The episode, entitled “Keep Austin Weird,” represents a major step up for this limited series. But there’s still a lot of ground to cover before it could hope to arrive at great.

Manga-inspired Drops of God turns wine into a high-stakes contest [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Tomohisa Yamashita and Fleur Geffrier in ★★★★☆
Wine fuels a crazy competition from beyond the grave in new Apple TV+ drama Drops of God.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewNew Apple TV+ series Drops of God centers on two people possessed by their devotion to and understanding of the art of creating wine. A young heiress to a fortune in wine has to compete with her father’s favorite protege in order to prove which of them learned anything from his years of trying to impart wisdom.

Based on a manga and dripping in elegance, this one’s got a lot to recommend it.

Get up close to nature’s behemoths in new docuseries Big Beasts [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Elephants in “Big Beasts,” premiering Friday, April 21 on Apple TV+.★★★☆☆
What docuseries about gigantic animals could leave out elephants?
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewA few years after the impressive Tiny World, Apple TV+ delivers its antithesis — Big Beasts, a nature documentary series that serves up a look at the largest creatures on earth.

Narrated by Tom Hiddleston, this playful and awed series is aimed at children ready to be sucked into the drama of the natural world (or a slightly older audience doing laundry). It’s ideal afternoon viewing for both demographics.

Schmigadoon searches for a happy escape [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★

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Keegan-Michael Key, Dove Cameron and Cecily Strong in ★★★
A happy ending is the key to getting out of Schmicago.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewThis week on Apple TV+ musical comedy fantasia Schmigadoon!, Melissa and Paul try to leave Schmicago but learn that nothing is ever easy in a musical. The two lost lovers must figure out a way to sew a little harmony in their new digs. However, these people aren’t just garden-variety sad — they’re deranged and miserable.

This is going to be harder than they think. It’s also quite entertaining, thanks to a handful of great musical numbers in the episode, entitled “Something Real.”

There’s a new sheriff in town this week on The Big Door Prize [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Aaron Roman Weiner in ★★★★☆
When you pull the "Sheriff" card from the Morpho machine, things can get wild.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewApple TV+ sci-fi comedy The Big Door Prize, about a machine that reads people’s potential and possibly their future, takes a hard look this week at a character who’s maybe hardest to like among the ensemble.

Beau goes on the hunt for a cheater. Giorgio continues his quest to best Dusty. Trina has a terrible realization. And Jacob bears the brunt of it all, as usual. The episode, entitled “Beau,” serves up quite a good showing from the cast and writers. It’s one of the season’s best yet.

Ted Lasso takes a revealing trip to Amsterdam [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Jason Sudeikis in ★★★☆☆
Ted gets high and ponders Sunflowers this week on Ted Lasso.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewTed Lasso, the Apple TV+ show about a feel-good soccer coach who’s having a feel-bad time, takes a trip to Amsterdam this week. After another crushing loss, everyone sets out on their own adventures for a night on the town.

Rebecca meets a most charming man in an uncharming location. Ted and Beard trip on their trip. Roy and Jamie share some secrets over a bike ride. And the rest of the team can’t pick a way to unwind. It’s a revealing little jaunt for this crew and a mostly very entertaining outing.

Extrapolations nails the dinner party at the end of the world [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Forest Whitaker, Eiza González, Tobey Maguire and Marion Cotillard in ★★★☆☆
The dinner party definitely doesn't go as planned this week on Extrapolations.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewGuess who’s coming to dinner this week on Extrapolations, the sci-fi omnibus from Apple TV+? Veteran TV director Nicole Holofcener goes for the gusto as the worst dinner party in America goes off the rails.

An all-star cast, and a lot of pent-up energy, help this week’s episode — entitled “2068: The Going-Away Party” — stand apart from previous episodes.

The Last Thing He Told Me dribbles out its mysteries a little at a time [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Episode 2. Jennifer Garner in ★★★☆☆
A cryptic note sends Hannah (played by Jennifer Garner) on a search for her missing husband.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewIn new Apple TV+ limited series The Last Thing He Told Me, a woman realizes she knows less about her husband than she thought after he goes missing. Together with her angry stepdaughter, she must figure out what went wrong — and what her husband actually did for a living.

Based on the bestselling book of the same name by Laura Daves, and starring Jennifer Garner (Alias, Dallas Buyers Club), the show certainly isn’t a failure. However, slack elements in the first two episodes, which premiered today on Apple’s streaming service, keep the mystery from realizing its potential.

It’s sex, lies and despair this week on The Big Door Prize [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★

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Gabrielle Dennis, Chris O’Dowd, Rory Keane and Emily Topper in ★★★
What could go wrong with a romantic rendesvouz?
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewThe Big Door Prize, the Apple TV+ sci-fi/comedy about a mysterious machine that reveals people’s potential, reaches deeper into despair and goofiness this week.

Dusty and Cass’ daughter Trina celebrates a depressing milestone and is acting out to make sure everyone knows it. Plus, Dusty and Cass try a romantic getaway and find nothing but surprises, both welcome and unwelcome, waiting for them.

In the episode, entitled “Trina,” The Big Door Prize flexes its tonal muscles.

Schmigadoon! uncorks a showstopper this week [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Jane Krakowski in ★★★★☆
Now that's a legal defense!
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewApple TV+ musical comedy Schmigadoon! lets its hair down this week as Josh goes on the lam and Melissa goes on the hunt for clues. Plus, Jane Krakowski gets an MVP moment that caps a very fun outing for the cast and writers.

The musical numbers in this week’s episode, entitled “Bells and Whistles,” prove stellar. And Schmigadoon! delivers more laughs per minute than usual, which means the second season of the feather-light show totally found its groove.

Winners, losers and surprises propel this week’s Ted Lasso [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Juno Temple in ★★★☆☆
Keeley (played by Juno Temple) makes some power moves this week.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewApple TV+ smash hit Ted Lasso needs a win this week, as AFC Richmond’s losing streak makes the team a laughing stock.

Ted’s not thinking clearly. Rebecca is seeing evidence everywhere that a psychic prediction about her is coming true — and it’s freaking her out. Keeley handles an unruly employee and makes a new friend. Nate has a minor victory off the pitch.

The episode, entitled “Signs,” is a perfectly good outing of the perennially upbeat football show.

Extrapolations bungles a sci-fi trope about memory [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Gemma Chan in ★★☆☆☆
Memories make powerful motivators this week on Extrapolations.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewExtrapolations, the too-ambitious-in-all-the-wrong-ways Apple TV+ science fiction show “about” global climate change, revisits an old friend this week for a look at the courier job from hell.

The show’s focus this time around is not on the environment but rather on the personal toll of living in a future you can’t control or understand. The episode, entitled “2066: Lola,” is a laborious and overfamiliar story that is, for no good reason, longer than almost every other episode of Extrapolations.

What could be better than the Hello Tomorrow! season finale? A second season. [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Billy Crudup and Dagmara Dominczyk in ★★★★☆
Nobody's really going to the moon ... are they?
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewThe first season of Hello Tomorrow!, the Apple TV+ show about men selling lunar dreams and lies, comes to a close this week in high style.

Jack needs to tie up some loose ends, and he has no plan for what happens when his clients finally get to the moon. His son Joey must figure out who to honor, his mother or his father. Eddie has butterfingers and Shirley has to pay for it. And someone is, at long last, awake.

The season finale, entitled “What Could Be Better?,” is a great conclusion to a great season.

Morpho machine’s tiny cards trigger gigantic changes on The Big Door Prize [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★

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Cocoa Brown, Damon Gupton and Noor Naghmi in ★★★
Change is definitely in the air on The Big Door Prize.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewApple TV+’s high-concept existential comedy The Big Door Prize tackles the big questions this week. A small town has been invaded by something called the Morpho machine, a device that prints out cards based on people’s identities and tells them what they’re meant to be in life.

Some people love the Morpho machine and the big changes it triggers. Others, like our hero Dusty and a local priest, have issues with it. A strong showing from The Big Door Prize cast helps this week’s episode, entitled, “Father Reuben,” go down easy.

It’s face-off time this week on Ted Lasso [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Nick Mohammed and Jason Sudeikis in ★★★☆☆
Nate (played by Nick Mohammed, left) and Ted (Jason Sudeikis) come face-to-face for a big match.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewIt’s payback time this week on Ted Lasso. Nate and Ted are due to face off after their acrimonious split at the end of last season. As usual, Ted doesn’t want to go negative. And, though Nate has unequivocally already gone negative, he feels bad about it.

Meanwhile, Keeley’s having second thoughts about Jamie and Shandy, Rebecca’s in an awkward position, an important financier shows up to the game, and Ted’s got the blues. Entitled “Big Week,” it’s a pretty solid episode of the biggest hit on Apple TV+, all things considered.

Schmigadoon! taps ’70s musicals for darker season two [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★

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Episode 1. Jane Krakowski, Jaime Camil, Dove Cameron and Alan Cumming in ★★★
The mean streets of Schmicago don't look anything like the small-town fantasyland of Schmigadoon.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ Review Apple TV+ musical Schmigadoon! is whistling a brand-new tune. Our heroes find themselves not in the 1950s musical world of Schmigadoon, but in the bleaker, ’70s-style Schmicago.

The whimsy of the show’s first season is replaced with a sarcastic darkness in its second season, which debuts today. The songs get racier, but the show remains much the same. Schmigadoon! is still one of the better shows on Apple’s streaming service.

Extrapolations trades climate doom for invigorating action this week [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★☆☆

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Adarsh Gourav in ★★★☆☆
A pair of unlikely allies carry a mysterious cargo through some rough spots in India this week.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewApple TV+ climate disaster show Extrapolations takes a road trip this week to the sweltering underbelly of a continent in crisis. Across two long days, unlikely allies will transport a secret package that many other interested parties are gunning for.

Extrapolations is essentially an omnibus series about the future, as seen through the eyes of people affected by climate change. That means every episode bears a distinct identity. In this week’s installment, entitled “2059 Part II: Nightbirds,” the creative team hits upon something partly neo-realist, partly Bourne-inspired action and party speculative fiction. It’s the most consistent and engrossing episode of the very patchy show so far.

Liaison finale brings nasty spy biz to a thrilling end [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Eva Green and Vincent Cassel in ★★★★☆
It's all going down this week on Liaison.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewApple TV+ espionage thriller Liaison comes to its breakneck conclusion this week. Alison and Gabriel get Samir and his information to England, but can they make it to the right authorities in time to save the continent from terrorism and extortion? And just who is the right authority, anyway?

Samir and Sabine have an appointment with Antropa, Bob and Didier must pay the piper, and Gabriel has one last trial in which to prove himself. All things considered, the Liaison finale brings a pretty decent conclusion to a star-studded limited series.

Hello Tomorrow! hits you with a velvet hammer this week [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★★☆

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Billy Crudup in ★★★★☆
Will Jack (played by Billy Crudup, right) get away with his lunar grift?
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewHello Tomorrow!, the Apple TV+ show about a Space Age con man and the hapless people stuck in his whirlwind, makes a fateful stop at a baseball game this week.

Lunar real-estate salesman Jack Billings goes deeper into his deception now that he’s found a financier with even fewer scruples than he has about cheating people out of their money. And his son Joey, desperate to get through to his dad, decides to finally start trying to put Jack away for his crimes.

Meanwhile, Shirley and Eddie are in deep money trouble and have nowhere nice to turn. And Herb is left picking up after everyone. The episode, entitled “Certain Forces Once Unleashed,” delivers a bracing half-hour of television.

A superstar shakes up the AFC Richmond clubhouse on Ted Lasso [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Jason Sudeikis and Maximilian Osinski in ★★☆☆☆
Superstar player Zava (played by Maximilian Osinski) makes waves at AFC Richmond.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ ReviewTed Lasso wrangles with a fresh face — and even bigger ego — this week. There’s a new player stealing the spotlight from everyone else on the pitch in the Apple TV+ hit comedy about the little football club that could. And star striker Jamie Tartt isn’t happy about the new guy’s arrival at all.

Plus, Ted endures his own crisis when he calls home at the wrong moment and finds another man’s voice on the phone. And Rebecca gets an eerie prediction. The episode, entitled “4 5 1,” is a fairly standard edition of the show about how positive thinking can change everything (except maybe my attitude toward Ted Lasso).

In The Big Door Prize, a mystery machine knows your future [Apple TV+ recap] ★★★

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Episode 1. Chris O’Dowd in ★★★
When a mysterious machine appears in a small town, the residents get a disruptive look at their future possibilities.
Photo: Apple TV+

TV+ Review New Apple TV+ high-concept sci-fi comedy The Big Door Prize stars perennial sad sack Chris O’Dowd as a man whose little world is rocked when a strange machine appears in the general store of his small town. Suddenly, friends and neighbors are changing their lives — and he feels out of step.

Funny, thought-provoking and sad, The Big Door Prize makes an interesting addition to the Apple TV+ lineup.