Trying

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on Trying:

New Trying season 4 trailer shows comedy cast ‘older not wiser’

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Trying season 4 trailer
The season 4 trailer for comedy "Trying" is out. The kids are getting older.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ heralded the birth of a new season of popular family comedy Trying with a season 4 trailer Tuesday. It charmingly shows everyone getting older as the London family faces life’s little problems, including those adopted kids. After all, six years have passed in the story since season three’s action. They’re “older not wiser,” according to the show’s tagline.

The trailer is not exactly uncontrollably laughing-out-loud funny. But, like the show, its moments of wry humor will draw smiles and a chuckle or two. The fourth season debuts May 22 on Apple TV+.

Watch some of the best Apple TV+ shows for free

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Eva Birthistle, Anne-Marie Duff, Sharon Horgan, Sarah Greene, and Eve Hewson are Bad Sisters.
Bad Sisters is just one for five popular Apple TV+ shows now watchable by everyone.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple has a gift for those without an Apple TV+ subscription: the first seasons of five popular shows are now available for anyone to watch at no charge.

Spend your Christmas vacation time enjoying some Ted Lasso or Prehistoric Planet, or any of the many other free episodes. These can all be enjoyed without an Apple device.

Trying saves its best jokes for season 3 finale [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆

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Trying season 3 finale recap Apple TV+: When everything's going wrong, it's time for a flash wedding!★★☆☆
When everything's going wrong, it's clearly time for a flash wedding!
Photo: Apple TV+

At long last, the third season of Apple TV+ family comedy Trying comes to a conclusion this week. Nikki and Jason must fight for their adopted kids in court — but first they’ve got a wedding to plan. Indeed, the whole gang comes together to help them plan their last-minute nuptials.

The fate of their happiness hangs in the balance. And, against all odds, the Trying cast and writers overcome their worst tendencies to put together the only good episode of this show that has yet aired. Mind you, I still don’t want any more of this. Trying will come back for its fourth season, which puts a knot in my stomach but at least season three went out with a bang.

Trying cranks up the sitcom cliches [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆

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Trying recap: Stop me if you've heard this one before.★★☆☆
Stop me if you've heard this one before.
Photo: Apple TV+

This week on Trying, the Apple TV+ show uses the hackiest sitcom elements imaginable as a backdrop for Jason and Nikki’s emotional problems and Scott and Karen’s awakenings.

Tyler is taken by a miscommunication. Jen is having a crisis of confidence at a crossroads in her life (and Nikki’s about to make it worse). Bev’s got Jason and Nikki in a vice, and Karen may have found her calling.

Does any of this matter when every joke makes your skin crawl? No, not really.

Trying desperately needs an actual crisis [Apple TV+ recap] ★☆☆☆☆

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Trying recap Apple TV+: For Jason (played by Rafe Spall, left) and Nikki (Esther Smith), every microcrisis is a maximum annoyance.★☆☆☆☆
For adoptive parents Jason (played by Rafe Spall, left) and Nikki (Esther Smith), every microcrisis is a maximum annoyance.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ family comedy Trying hits a snag or two this week, as Jason and Scott both realize they’re running out of road before a fall.

Jason needs money if he wants to pay for the house he’s been renting, which otherwise will be sold out from under him at any minute. Scott needs to make enough money to pay for Karen’s incoming baby, or she’ll continue looking at him as the fatuous loser with his head in the clouds that the show has more than shown us that he is.

On top of that, the adoptees’ grandmother is gunning for custody and she’s willing to fight dirty. Good, I say. This show needs some actual tragedy.

Trying fails out of the school of hard knocks [Apple TV+ recap] ★☆☆☆☆

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Trying recap Apple TV+: Princess (played by Eden Togwell) gets busted this week on Trying.★☆☆☆☆
Princess (played by Eden Togwell) gets busted this week on Trying.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ series Trying, the James Corden of sitcoms, invents some new fake problems for its characters to solve this week. Tyler bumps his head, Princess steals a solution to an outcast’s problem, Nikki and Karen don’t feel like moms, Jason is disappointed in his son’s taste, and there may be a new wrinkle in the couple’s decision to keep their kids.

The writers also show their Tory hand this week with jabs at all things lower class — except when it’s necessary for our characters to engage in them. Not even a special cameo from a great villainess can lift this week’s offering above pitiful.

Trying wrings a tiny victory out of pregnancy and a party [Apple TV+ recap] ★★☆☆☆

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Trying recap Apple TV+: At least somebody's laughing.★★☆☆☆
At least somebody's laughing.
Photo: Apple TV+

Trying, the Apple TV+ comedy about middle-class ghouls making the once-a-generation decision to start families, plans a birthday party for special little boy Tyler this week.

Tyler’s party is too overwhelming at first, but with a little help from a lot of people it becomes fun. Elsewhere, Karen is pregnant and nervous, Nikki resents her fertility, Scott has to quit a burgeoning career, and Jason is still on the hook for a dream house.

Vacuous comedy Trying sinks to an unforgivable low [Apple TV+ recap] ☆☆☆☆

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Trying recap, Apple TV+: Just when you thought Trying couldn't get any worse...☆☆☆☆
Trying recap, Apple TV+: Just when you thought Trying couldn't get any worse...
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ family comedy Trying goes camping this week, and Nikki and Jason discover their strengths and weaknesses as parents by listening to things their kids need.

Elsewhere, Freddy hijacks an AA meeting to bore them with his everyday transgressions, Karen is pregnant and Scott is an idiot. More glaring than any plot point is a gaffe that hints at the hollowness at this story’s core. It is a long half-hour.

Trying adds kids (and actual jokes) to the sickeningly sweet mix for season 3 [Apple TV+ recap] ☆☆☆

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Trying season 3 recap Apple TV+: Can adding a couple of rug rats make this alleged comedy actually funny?☆☆☆
Can adding a couple of rug rats make this alleged comedy actually funny?
Photo: Apple TV+

Trying, the Apple TV+ series that is the Full House to Ted Lasso’s Coachreturns this week for a richly unwarranted third season.

The show, a smug and naggingly pleasant look at two well-to-do narcissists who want to raise children for some reason, finally fulfills Jason and Nikki’s dream of parenthood after watching them not earn it for two long seasons.

Indeed there’s nothing unique or likable or notable at all about these two characters. Let’s see what happens to them now that they’ve brought a pair of children into their London home.

Trying returns for a second unbearable blast of blandness [Apple TV+ review]

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There is not nearly enough Imelda Staunton on this season of Trying
We don't get nearly enough Imelda Staunton this season.
Photo: Apple TV+

No one’s favorite young parents-to-be return for another go-round in Trying, the maddening Apple TV+ show about the travails of a British couple who really want children.

Unfortunately, the show’s second season, which debuts Friday, proves just as exhausting and depressing as its first.

Apple TV+ keeps Trying with season 3 of witty British comedy

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‘Trying’ returns to Apple TV+ on May 14, 2021.
Esther Smith and Rafe Spall return for Trying season 2, premiering globally on Apple TV+ on May 14.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ on Wednesday promised a third season of the comedy series Trying. And it announced the second season of the show about a couple undergoing the herculean trials of adopting a child will debut worldwide in mid-May.

Critics applaud Apple TV+ comedy lineup

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Apple TV+ has yet to cut into the lead of well-established streaming video services.
Central Park is a hit with critics. It’s ready to binge watch on a long holiday weekend, along with other Apple TV+ comedies.
Photo: Apple

Anyone looking for new TV comedies to binge watch on a long holiday weekend shouldn’t miss the very positive reviews for Central Park and Trying on Apple TV+. Both shows debuted at the beginning of the summer, which means their entire first seasons are available now.

And while Ted Lasso is only halfway through its first season on Apple’s streaming service, it also has drawn praise from critics.

Truly magical: New Magic Keyboard transforms iPad Pro again [Cult of Mac Magazine 347]

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Magic Keyboard review: Truly magical iPad Pro accessory!
This week's issue will look great on your iPad Pro. Trust us.
Cover: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

We love the new Magic Keyboard, which adds a trackpad and lets an iPad Pro float almost magically. Read the full Magic Keyboard review and find out everything we like (and a couple things that could be better).

In this week’s issue of Cult of Mac Magazine, you’ll also find an essay on all the ways a 2008 MacBook proves better than a modern Apple laptop. And a bit of trash talk about lazy new Apple TV+ comedy Trying.

Plus, we’ve got even more reviews, the week’s top Apple news, and a bunch of great how-tos and pro tips. Download the free iOS mag now or get the links below.

New Apple TV+ sitcom Trying is mostly failing [Review]

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Rafe Spall and Esther Smith are not trying hard enough in Apple TV+'s new series Trying.
Rafe Spall and Esther Smith are not trying hard enough in new series Trying.
Photo: Apple TV+

Even during quarantine, you’d really need to not value your time to look beyond the failures of imagination at the heart of Trying. The new Apple TV+ sitcom, created by Andy Wolton and starring Rafe Spall and Esther Smith as a couple who discover they can’t conceive, is sitcom 101.

There isn’t anything inherently wrong with the premise, but neither is there much to recommend it. Wolton and company seem content to do the bare minimum.

Adoption comedy series Trying, new episode of Defending Jacob debut on Apple TV+

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Trying on Apple TV+
Trying is the first British comedy to debut on Apple TV+.
Photo: Apple TV+

With coronavirus lockdown, new streaming TV content is more appreciated than ever. Fortunately, Apple TV+ has loaded up on new content for another packed week of new shows. Debuting Friday are all eight episodes of the first season of new comedy series Trying.

There’s also episode four of the excellent Chris Evans-starring drama series Defending Jacob. That should be enough to fill at least part of the weekend!

First British comedy on Apple TV+ makes maddening adoption process funny somehow

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trying
Apple is Trying to inject more comedy into its slate of shows.
Photo: Apple

Anyone considering adopting children may want to rethink about going through the entire process after watching the first official trailer for the new Apple TV+ series, Trying.

Created in partnership with BBC Studios, Trying follows a British couple who want to have a child together more than anything. After finding out that they’re physically incapable of conceiving a child, the two decide to adopt, setting them on a wild ride of challenges as they try to convince an adoption panel that they would make great parents.

Watch the hilarious first trailer here:

Apple TV+ spring 2020 boasts Amazing Stories, Chris Evans and 5 more shows

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Chris Evans plays a conflicted district attorney in Defending Jacob on Apple TV+.
Chris Evans takes on a dramatic role in Defending Jacob on Apple TV+.
Photo: Apple

No less than seven new shows will debut on Apple TV+ before the middle of this year. There’s Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories reboot, a thriller starring Chris Evans, a mystery, two comedies and a pair of multipart documentaries.

And Apple says an animated comedy by the creator of Bob’s Burgers will launch this summer. Here’s a rundown of the other new Apple TV+ shows coming in early 2020.