Following Sylvester Stallone and Kevin Costner, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the latest 80s box-office star to make his debut in a TV series. His “FUBAR” (Netflix, streaming), in fact, is almost exactly like any one of his minor action flicks, about a newly-retired CIA operative with unlikely James Bond-like skills, who is pulled back into service […]
Author Archives: Roger Catlin
Wednesday: Rogen and Byrne’s ‘Platonic’
The future of Hollywood (if the writers strike ends) may be the wholesale shift of movies to streaming series. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne have made a number of agreeable comedies over the years; now they pour their talent into the new episodic “Platonic” (Apple TV+, streaming) about old pals who reunite in their 40s […]
Tuesday TV: Max Debuts with Gremlins
Today’s the day the streaming service HBO Max sheds the most creative half of its name to become just Max (inadvertently preserving the legacy of the lesser sister network Cinemax). The Warner Bros Discovery enterprise service will combine what’s been available on Discovery as well as HBO Max (and before that HBO Go) — though […]
TV Eye Takes a Break
Taking a little vacation from the blog for a couple of weeks. So I’ll guess I’ll miss all the season finales. You’ll have to tell me what I missed. Be back May 23 with any luck. Have a good month!
Capital Radio 5-8-23: Kings and All That
Began with the work of Gordon Lightfoot, the ace Canadian singer-songwriter who died a week ago at 84. We first hear his songs as interpreted by no less than Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and the Dandy Warhols. Then a handful of his own recordings, both hits and more obscure. And a tribute to […]
Monday TV: Brother Films, Mother Leaves
Reed Harkness was an amateur filmmaker who found a perfect subject for his work in his little brother Sam. In doing so he also accidentally captured family trauma when their mother suddenly disappeared without a trace. The extraordinary thing about the resulting documentary “Sam Now,” is that the two go looking for her and find […]
Sunday TV: Americans Sing for a King
Historians please note: The best talent that The Coronation Concert (PBS, 3 p.m., check local listings) for King Charles III could get were the judges from “American Idol” — Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. Also on the bill for the live concert at Windsor Castle is a singer who’s done more time as a reality […]
Saturday TV: An Early Morning Coronation
Like a comet, British coronations now come around now once a lifetime. Today is that for Charles, who gets kinged in the arcane traditions of the monarchy alongside his second wife and former mistress, now the Queen of England. There will be fuss, there will be funny hats; there will be leaders from across the […]
Friday TV: Imagining Life in a ‘Silo’
From Graham Yost comes an adaptation of Hugh Howley’s trilogy about a post-apocalyptic future where the last 10,000 people on Earth live in a giant underground “Silo” (Apple TV+, streaming). There an engineer (Rebecca Ferguson, above) looks for answers about a loved one’s murder. Tim Robbins and Rashida Jones also star. “Taste the Nation with […]
Thursday TV: Pete Davidson’s ‘Bupkis’
Pete Davidson not only riffs off personal details of his life (as when his dad died on 9/11) on his rollicking new series “Bupkis” (Peacock, streaming), he infuses it with maybe the strongest cast on TV. Edie Falco and Joe Pesci are regulars and guests in just the first three of its eight episodes (all […]