Apple TV+ will clean up at this year's Hollywood Critics Association Awards. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+ garnered a record 53 nominations for 16 shows across a range of genres — comedy, drama, documentary, anthology series, variety-sketch series — for the upcoming Hollywood Critics Association Awards.
Psychological thriller Severance and comedy Ted Lasso led the way with a dozen nominations apiece.
It's Maggie's turn to talk in the season one finale. Photo: Apple TV+
The first season of Apple TV+ “comedy” The Afterparty draws to a merciful close with its final piece of evidence this week. The show, about the half-dozen witness statements relevant to solving the mysterious death of a pop star, has one more story to tell. This time, the last suspect is no suspect at all, but rather a little girl who happened to see the whole thing.
The Afterparty consistently dragged its feet on the way to this magnificently inessential and perfunctory wrap-up of season one. (Yes, shockingly, Apple TV+ recently renewed this “global hit” for a second season.)
The series’ first season never generated any interest or momentum over the course of eight episodes, so why change now? Let’s put this body in the ground.
Detective Danner (played by Tiffany Haddish) reports for duty in a dreadful flashback episode. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+’s The Afterparty, the show with a kaleidoscopic approach to genre, hits a new low this week as it becomes a dreadful procedural for its penultimate episode. The show has been many things by now — an unfunny cartoon, a musical, an action movie, an arthouse experiment — but it’s never fully just given into being bad television on purpose before now.
There’s something frankly a little insulting about being asked to watch a half-hearted impression of something The Afterparty creator Christopher Miller and the show’s writers keep telling us is bad and a waste of time and unrealistic. I’d much rather just watch a rerun of JAG on Pluto TV than continue with this baleful re-creation.
What, for heaven’s sakes, is the point of The Afterparty?
What's going on here? Whatever it is, it isn't amusing. Photo: Apple TV+
This week on Apple TV+ show The Afterparty, we hear from the final suspect who attended the reunion that ended with pop star Xavier’s murder. So, if you’ve loved hearing about these events over and over — congratulations! You’re getting them one more time, this time delivered in the form of an unremarkable animated TV show.
Newly single mom Zoë takes Detective Danner through her version of the events that took place that deadly night. Naturally, she makes plenty of detours to talk about her life as a mom and a divorcee, and how hard all of this has been for her.
Her story would prove more compelling if these points hadn’t already been made in the previous five episodes of this dreadful show. It only took half of this short season for The Afterparty to run out of steam. All in all, it’s a pitiful display from comedy performers who should know better.
Walt (played by Jamie Demetriou) gets lucky this week. Photo: Apple TV+
The Afterparty, Apple TV+’s Rashomon-style comedy of perspectives, finally looks back at the party before the party. Outkast is on the stereo, the cast get bad haircuts, and everyone makes embarrassing mistakes. Could this explain Xavier’s death?
The show hasn’t done much to engender any good will toward its cast of characters, and this week’s stunt episode doesn’t help things. The Afterparty seems quite taken with the idea of the cast reliving their glory days. But the sight of them all looking younger isn’t quite the gas the writers and director Chris Miller seem to think it is.
Xavier (played by Dave Franco) is still dead, and this show isn't doing much better. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+’s murder mystery/comedy The Afterparty soldiers on this week, investigating drunken party girl (and former valedictorian) Chelsea.
The genre-hopping show, which made a fitful start with last week’s first three mirthless episodes, has no better luck with this week’s half-hearted, half-remembered crime story than it did as a poorly thought-out musical or rom-com.
At this point, it’s a genuine question whether the writers and producers knew what they were doing when The Afterparty snagged a full-season order. Not even the ordinarily reliable Tiffany Haddish seems to be having any fun in this blinkered affair.
Even Tiffany Haddish can't save this "comedy." Photo: Apple TV+
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.
Will you take the bait and watch the first episode for free? Photo: Apple TV+
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?
Tiffany Haddish leads an ensemble cast in The Afterparty, coming to Apple TV+ in January. Photo: Chris Miller
A premiere date for a hotly anticipated Apple TV+ series has finally been revealed. The Afterparty starring Tiffany Haddish and a collection of other comedians will make its debut on Apple’s streaming service on Friday, January 28.
The very unusual murder mystery was created by film virtuosos Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
There’s a lot to look forward to in the third year of Apple’s streaming video service. Graphic: Cult of Mac
Apple TV+ is two years old and there are plenty of new films and series to look forward to in the third year. The streaming service has us eagerly awaiting two comedies, a tragedy, two murder mysteries and an animated movie, all premiering in just the next four months.
Here are the Apple TV+ additions we’re having the hardest time waiting for.