Category Archives: Pop Culture

May 19 2023
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Books, DVDs, Pop Culture, Television

The Entertainment Forecast

Friday, May 19 – Thursday, May 25

Church cover-ups, cross-cultural girl rock & something to ‘Cheer’ about

I’m diggin’ Donna Summer in Saturday’s new doc about the disco queen!

FRIDAY, May 19
The Secrets of Hillsong
Documentary explores the rise of the global megachurc, its precipitous fallout leading to the expulsion of its co-pastor husband-and-wife couple, and the patterns of cover-ups the organization used to protect itself (10 p.m., FX).

Spy Master
Six-part espionage drama stars Adina Sadeanu as secret agent for the KGB during the Cold War who makes a daring escape to the United States (HBO Max).

SATURDAY, May 20
Love to Love You, Donna Summer
An in-depth look at the life, career and music of the singer who helped define the so-called “disco era” with hits including “Last Dance,” “She Works Hard for the Money,” “Love to Love You Baby” and “On the Radio” (8 p.m., HBO Max).

Cheers to Cheers
Thirty years ago tonight, Cheers (above) went off the air. Watch a commemorative marathon of the final season’s episodes, all revolving around TV-dom’s most famous watering hole—and toast by hoisting a sudsy beverage of your choice (Pluto TV).

SUNDAY, May 21
Ghosts of Beirut
An international cast circulates through this new limited series about a true-life espionage saga, the two-decade manhunt for an elusive Lebanese terrorist (10 p.m., Showtime).

American Idol
Who’ll be the new champ? Tune in tonight for the superstar-packed three-hour live season finale, featuring a singing square-off between the three finalists (8 p.m., ABC).

MONDAY, May 22
Prehistoric Planet
The new season of the natural-history series uses groundbreaking research and high-tech visuals to take you deep into the past, to a time before time, when dinosaurs ruled the world (Apple TV+).

Fanny: The Right to Rock
Engrossing documentary about the first all-female rock band to release an LP with a major label—the Filipina-American sister act Fanny (above), which went on to make four more albums in five years during the 1970s (10 p.m., PBS).

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Ever wanted to live on a boat? Or in a floating house? Indulge your fantasy with Making Waves (Thames & Hudson), author Portland Mitchell’s generously illustrated look at people who’ve pulled up their land stakes and now live “on the water.”

TUESDAY, May 23
Smartless: On the Road
New docuseries follows three actor friends (Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes) on their cross-country, coast to coast podcast tour (HBO Max).

Reality
Sydney Sweeney (below, from season two of The White Lotus) stars as in this dramatization of a real incident—as a former American intelligence agent, Reality Winner, sentenced to prison for releasing confidential information about Russian interference in the 2016 elections. (10 p.m., HBO)

BRING IT HOME

Creed III (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) continues the Rocky spinoff franchise with the continuing saga of boxing champ Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan, who also directs) who faces off in the ring with an old friend (Jonathan Majors), now an ex-con with nothing to lose.

The fun-filled story of a teenager (Billy Batson) who finds out a magic word (Shazam!) turns him into a superhero (Zachary Levi) continues in Shazam! Fury of the Gods (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), which includes commentary by director David F. Sandberg.

WEDNESDAY, May 24
Born Chinese
If you loved this year’s big Oscar winner, Everything Everywhere All the Time, then check out this genre-hopping worlds-collide action comedy about a high school teen who becomes engaged in a battle between mythological Chinese gods. It features three of Everything’s  stars, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu (Disney+)

Platonic
New comedy series stars Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne (above) as two best friends approaching midlife who reconnect after a long rift (Apple TV+)

THURSDAY, May 25
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The broadcast TV premiere of the hit martial-arts movie based on Marvel comics and starring Simu Lee as a modern San Francisco resident who taps into an ancient power (8 p.m., ABC).

May 16 2023
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History, Music, Pop Culture

Willie World

Nashville museum is a deep-dive time capsule of vintage country music

Nashvillians don’t have to go “On the Road Again” to visit a “Willie” terrific collection of memorabilia and artifacts from country music’s golden era.

The Willie Nelson & Friends Museum features exhibits on Nelson and more than 30 other country stars. It’s just off Briley Parkway, across McGavock Pike from the entrance to the Opryland Hotel and the Grand Ole Opry, in a strip mall book-ended by Cooter’s and the Nashville Palace.

“We’ve got a really small space for a whole lot of stuff,” says owner Mark Hughes, whose mother, Jeannie Oakley, and her husband, Frank—longtime friends of Nelson and other country stars—started their collection in their Madison, Tenn., picture-frame shop 1979. The museum grew and moved several times over the years (off Music Row, then to Branson, Mo.) before settling into its current Music Valley Drive location in 1992.

Its 4,500-square feet of exhibit space details the world of Willie Nelson and many other entertainers who’ve intersected with his wide-ranging musical orbit over the years, including Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Porter Wagoner, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, Faron Young and Dottie West. There’s a pair of Nelson’s running shoes, and the guitar he played on his first Grand Ole Opry appearance—and his paltry $15 paystub from the gig. Over here’s a mockup of the front of his tour bus; over there’s a custom-made billiard table that once sat in his parlor; walls and display cases hold dozens of photos; and yep, that’s a booth and seats from Tootsie’s Orchard lounge, where Nelson and other singer-songwriters used to hang, just feet away from the backstage entrance to the Ryman. The laminated top of the booth is covered in autographs and scribbled notes, like hillbilly-music hieroglyphics.

There’s a blowup of Willie’s high school yearbook pic, movie memorabilia and items from the first Farm Aid concert, in Champaign, Ill., in 1985, including a bandana signed by all the artists who came to perform—including Willie’s fund-raising partners Neil Young and John Mellencamp, plus Loretta Lynn, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Billy Joel and Tom Petty. Look, that’s Willie’s 1979 Entertainer of the Year trophy from the Country Music Association, his only win in that category. And yes, that’s a handwritten note from Patsy Cline, thanking him for writing “Crazy” and letting her record it.

You can sit in a little theater alcove and watch a couple of documentaries featuring Nelson and other country performers reminiscing about bygone Nashville days. Or browse displays of stage attire from a country music who’s who of stars.

Another display, of framed photos, shows Willie’s wives, all four of them.

Hughes notes that Nelson’s granddaughter, Raelyn, was coming by the museum the next day to tape an episode of her Music is Funny podcast from the museum. Nelson used to drop by himself from time to time when he was in Nashville, but that doesn’t happen much anymore, now that he’s a bona fide global superstar who doesn’t spend a lot of time in Tennessee anymore. And even though he remains very active at 90, he’s not quite as wide-ranging as he used to be.

Many of the display items came from the Internal Revenue Service, which auctioned off Nelson’s property to chisel away at the $16.7 million they said he owed them, in the early 1990s, for unpaid taxes. “My mother was able to work out something with the IRS,” says Hughes, “and get first crack at some things.” Some things by the truck load, as it turned out.

Hughes says he often hears from museum visitors how surprised they are to see photos of Nelson well-groomed and clean-cut, without his long hair and signature braids, no beard, and wearing dapper, double-breasted suits—1960s Willie, as he was trying to crack into the Nashville music biz. “They say, ‘I’ve never seen Willie with short hair!’ They had no idea he existed before ‘Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain’,” he says, noting Nelson’s No. 1, written by Fred Rose, from his 1975 Red Headed Stranger album, which signaled the beginning of his “outlaw” phase—and the end of regular trips to the barbershop.  

Visitors enter (and exit) the museum through a well-stocked gift and souvenir shop, full of t-shirts and country music collectibles. You can buy a Willie Nelson bandana (complete with braids) or cannabis-themed koozies. And get your future foretold by a mechanized Willie-bot in a coin-operated fortune-telling booth.

The museum displays are mostly vintage, truly from another era, a snapshot of country music before the current millennium and its ever-rising tide of newer, younger acts. “We don’t have anything against so-called newer stars,” says Hughes. “That’s just not what we’re about.”

“There are very few artists who can span the number of years that [Nelson] has contributed, and still be the level [Nelson] is today,” he says, citing Wille’s recent pair of 2023 Grammy Awards. “There aren’t many places people can walk into and see such a diverse collection of specific country music memorabilia, and you can run a thread through all of it and see how everything’s connected”—connected to Willie, as a songwriter, a singer, a hit-making megastar…and good friend to just about everyone whose paths he crossed along the way.

And that includes Hughes, the former businessman who years later took over, and expanded, his mother’s Willie-centric collection.  

People think, “Long hair, smokes pot,” says Hughes of how many fans perceive Nelson. “Yeah, that’s true. But to me, he’s a very nice guy. I’ve never, ever seen him upset.”

—Neil Pond

Willie Nelson & Friends Museum | Nashville Souvenirs
May 12 2023
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Books, Pop Culture, Television

The Entertainment Forecast

Friday, May 12 – Thursday, May 18

A chip off the ol’ Rocky block, stars sing Broadway’s praises & Natalie Portman has a (soccer) ball

Meet the fam of ‘Rocky’ star Sylvester Stallone in a new docuseries.

FRIDAY, May 12
City on Fire
Eight-episode original drama revolves the shooting of a NYU student in Central Park, creating an ever-deepening mystery about a series of citywide fires, the downtown music scene and a wealthy family imploding under the stress of a lifetime of dark secrets (Apple TV+).

Great Performances at 50
The iconic Public Television documentary-film series celebrates a birthday milestone with a revue of milestone Broadway shows and songs, hosted by Sutton Foster and featuring Jane Krakowski, Betty Buckley, Vanessa Williams and many more. It’s like going to the theater…without going to the theater! (9 p.m., PBS).

SATURDAY, May 13
Banded
Talented singing, songwriting and instrument-playing musicians compete in this new “build a band” competition hosted by Brandon Jenner and mentored by Grammy-winning artists and producers (9 p.m., AXS TV).

SUNDAY, May 14
Fear the Walking Dead
They’re still dead, they’re still walking, and they’re heading tonight into the eighth and final season of this installment of the hit post-apocalypse franchise. So, there’s still plenty to fear! With Lennie James, Kim Dickens, Karen David and Ruben Blades (9 p.m., AMC and AMC+).

The Cube
Three-time NBA champion Dwayne Wade hosts the new season of this high-octane competition series in which contestants confront physical and mental challenges while confined inside a moving glass box (9 p.m., TBS).

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Cosplay, you may be aware, is when people dress up for conventions and other events in the “costumes” to “play” their favorite characters from comics and movies. Thurstan Redding’s explosively illustrates this pop-culture phenomenon in Kids of Cosplay (Thames and Hudson), with more than 70 surreal portraits of young people getting their cosplay on.

The Neighborhood
Dave (Max Greenfield) finally learns the truth about the long-ago disappearance of his father (guest star Kevin Pollack) (8 p.m., CBS).

MONDAY, May 15
Street Outlaws: Locals Only
It’s fast and it’s furious as cameras follow local race drivers across America in a bracket-style elimination to determine, well, who’s the fastest and the furious-est (8 p.m., Discovery).

TUESDAY, May 16
Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me
Documentary (below) delves into the life, death and secrets of Vickie Lynn Hogan, who became international famous as model turned actress Anna Nicole Smith (Netflix).

The Tower 2: Death Message
Season two of the streaming crime-drama series begins as London dig for clues into grisly murders, organized crime and other dark turns of events. Starring Gemma Whelan and Jimmy Akingbola (Britbox).

Angel City
Actor Natalie Portman founded the Angel City Football Club, an all-female soccer team in 2020, and now she’s one of the producers of this docuseries (above) about the players worked to build the franchise (9 p.m., HBO). 

WEDNESDAY, May 17
Conor McGregor
New documentary series goes inside the world of mixed martial arts champ Conor McGregor as he prepares for a return to the UFC octagon (Netflix).

The Family Stallone
It’s Rocky, with all the chips off the ol’ block-y! This new docuseries takes you inside the life of actor Sylvester Stallone and his family, including wife Jennifer Flavin and their three daughters (Paramount+).

THURSDAY, May 18
I Survived Bear Grylls
The TV survivalist joins with comedian Jordan Conley to host this new competition series featuring simulations of some of Gryllis’ most grueling and hair-raising endurance situations (9 p.m., TBS).

The Geography of Bliss
Rainn Wilson (from TV’s The Office) goes on a global trek in this new docuseries (above) to find the happiest places on the planet (Peacock).

May 05 2023
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DVDs, Movies, Pop Culture

The Entertainment Forecast

Friday, May 5 – Thursday, May 11

Steve Harvey goes to court, Muppets Mayhem & a first for Garth Brooks

Padma Lakshmi gets her yum on.

FRIDAY, May 5
Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi
The renowned foodie returns for a new season of this series exploring America’s rich, electric regional cuisines (Hulu & Disney).

Silo
Gripping dystopian drama series unfolds the saga of the last people on earth, who live underground to protect themselves from the toxic and deadly world above. Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Robbins and rapper-actor Common star (Apple TV+).

SUNDAY, May 7
Vice
Season four begins of the award-winning documentary series (above), which heads tonight into the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Syria, and also explores new groundbreaking developments in artificial intelligence (8 p.m., Showtime).

MTV Movie & TV Awards
Find out what’s popular with the “kids” these days on this show honoring the top things on screens of all sizes, with a special “Comedic Genius” trophy going to actress/comedienne Jennifer Coolidge. Previously announced host Drew Barrymore won’t be there, however, in a show of support for Hollywood’s writers’ strike. (8 p.m., MTV).

The 2010s
Docuseries examines culture, politics, personalities, music and lifestyle that defined the not-so-long-ago decade (9 p.m., CNN).

MONDAY, May 8
Horrible Bosses
It’s ribald and raunchy, yes, but wildly funny, and if you haven’t seen it—well, tune in to this 2011 comedy caper to see how the misguided plans of three guys (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) to get rid with their awful bosses take a turn toward the hilarious. With Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and future Royal Meghan Markle! (10 p.m., TruTV). 

Jeopardy Masters
Ken Jennings host this prime-time special-event edition of the iconic game show, featuring top-ranked returning contestants (8 p.m., ABC).

TUESDAY, May 9
Judge Steve Harvey
Court is once again in session as the host of TV’s Family Feud picks up the gavel and puts on the cloak in this unscripted comedy series, usong his life experiences and common sense to “rule” on a variety of small claims, friendship-taxing disagreements and neighborhood disputes (Hulu).

BRING IT HOME

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s the Superman 1978-1987 5-Film Collection (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), a superb collection of Man of Steel movies—Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, Superman III and Superman IV. Not the most inventively titled flicks, they nonetheless re-established the Man of Steel for a whole new generation. Includes commentary, vintage featurettes and cartoons from the groundbreaking Fleischer Studios, dozens of deleted scenes, and more.

WEDNESDAY, May 10
Class of ’09
Brian Tyree and Kate Mara star in this new thriller series about a class of FBI agents grappling with immense changes as the criminal justice system is altered by artificial intelligence (Hulu).

The Muppets Mayhem
New streaming movie (above) follows the Muppet “act” the Electric Mayhem Band—with Dr. Teeth, Animal, Floyd, Zoot and Janice—on a mishap-py mission to record their first album. Voices by Llly Singh, Tahj Mowry and others (Disney+).

The Game Show Show
If you love game shows (and who doesn’t?!), you’ll love this new series, which takes a long, insightful look at the history and impact of game shows across eight decades of American culture (10 p.m., ABC).

THURSDAY, May 11
The Academy of Country Music Awards
I know, it’s a bit confusing. There’s the CMA Awards and the CMT Awards, and tonight it’s the ACM Awards, hosted this year by superstars Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks—marking his first time as an awards show host—and streaming live from Frisco, Texas (Prime Video).

May 01 2023
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Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

Out with a Bang

Marvel’s cosmic misfits return for an overstuffed blowout farewell party

Zoe Saldana as Gamora in ‘Marvel Studios’ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Baustista, Karen Gillan & Will Poulter
Directed by James Gunn
PG-13

In theaters Friday, May 5, 2023

The gang’s all here as Marvel’s motley crew of cosmic outlaws closes out their movie trilogy with a bang in a daring dash to save one of their own. This big, bold rousing finish (supposedly) is the overcrowded end of the franchise, which began nearly a decade ago and now hinges on the backstory of Rocket, the genetically modified wisecracking racoon (voiced again by Bradley Cooper).

The Guardians quip, banter and rip across the universe, encountering an array of bizarro cyborg critters and a crazed despot (Shakespearean actor Chuckwudi Iwuji, deliciously, devilishly nasty) intent on creating a new, perfected world—and discarding all his “mistakes” along the way.

Vol. 3 throws a lot at the screen—a barrage of digital effects, a who’s who of characters and a dense stream of details. If you haven’t been along for the ride from the beginning, paying attention through the other Guardians flicks, the events of The Avengers and the interwoven connectedness of the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe, well, good luck. You might not understand how the green-skinned Gamora (Zoe Saldana), who died in a previous movie, can show up again, and have no memory that she and Guardians leader Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) were once lovey-dovey.

As diehard Marvel fans know, there’s always the chance of new beginnings and redo’s, thanks to time warps, Infinity Stones and other comic-book shenanigans.

Just about everyone is aboard for this way-out wrap party. There’s Drax the Destroyer (former wrestler Dave Bautista); Gamora’s sister Nebula (Karen Gillan); Mantis (Pom Klementieff), whose enhanced ability for empathy comes in handy. Groot, the size-shifting, virtually indestructible humanoid tree, is voiced again by Vin Diesel, even though he grunts only one thing (“I am Groot”) over and over.

Look: There’s Sylvester Stallone, back again! And Elizabeth Debicki! Will Poulter makes the movie debut of a golden-hued, artificially fashioned space super-dude, Adam Warlock, whose comic-book roots go back to the 1960s. And Cosmo the telepathic dog has a new voice—it’s Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, who got an Oscar nomination for playing Borat’s daughter in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. Returning director James Gunn’s brother, Sean, also returns as a humanoid alien with a mohawk fin on his head and a whistle-controlled arrow in his quiver.

There more than a few space-age shootouts with all kinds of zappers and blasters, and even a high-tech version of an old standby, the hand grenade. But nothing blows up like the heated moment when one of characters drops the F-bomb, marking an onscreen first for a Marvel movie.

At one point, the Guardians plop down in a comically mutated surburbia that looks like Ozzie and Harriett spliced with The Twilight Zone. Is that Howard the Duck, the waterfowl star of Marvel’s first feature-length theatrical movie (1986), playing a card game? Be quick or you’ll miss a visual shoutout to Alf, the sitcom space alien. To top it all off, there’s a climactic rescue of a bunch of cute kids, who look like ragged theater waifs abandoned after being worked to the bone in back-to-back productions of Cats and Les Miserable.

Baby Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper)

It’s a mega-movie loaded with wildly colorful characters, oddball creatures, monsters and cuddly pets, loads of whimsy and jokes, bursts of dramatic intensity, lushly detailed world-building and ka-boomy blasts of explosive, expensive-looking, sometimes chaotic action. But there’s also a surprising amount of emotional heft and heart, particularly in the sentimental swell of Rocket’s early days when he was experimentally bioengineered alongside other “altered” caged animals. If those TV PSAs for animal-cruelty prevention really get to you, you’ll be wrecked by watching what went down with Rocket and his penned-in pals. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  

And you’ll certainly tap your toes to the soundtrack, a highly curated playlist loaded once again with scene-appropriate tunes by the Flaming Lips, Heart, Faith No More, Alice Cooper, the Beastie Boys, Florence and the Machine, Bruce Springsteen and X. The movie opens, fittingly, with Radiohead’s “Creep”—and Rocket muttering along to the lyrics, about being a self-loathing “freak” and “weirdo”—and closes with a bouncy, upbeat Poco tune that will be familiar to fans of the first movie, back in 2014.

Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax, and Karen Gillan as Nebula

If this is, indeed, the final Guardians mission, they go down swinging (and swearing!). But rest assured, you’ll be seeing these characters—or some of them, anyway—in other Marvel projects, in some form or another. This may be a goodbye, but these Marvel space seeds were also engineered to grow, made to be movie perennials, sewn to sprout—to regenerate like the roots and branches of Groot—over and over, returning again and again.

—Neil Pond

Apr 28 2023
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DVDs, Pop Culture, Television

The Entertainment Forecast

Friday, April 28 – Thursday, May 4, 2023

A new ‘Afterparty’ whodunnit, Star Wars shorts & a fem-centric spin on ‘Fatal Attraction’

FRIDAY, April 28
The Afterparty
Season two of the feisty murder-mystery whodunnit comedy series begins with returning cast members Tiffany Haddish (above), Sam Richardson and Zoe Chao, and new players including Elizabeth Perkins, Paul Walker Hauser, Ken Jeong, Jack Whitehall and others (Apple TV+).

Peter Pan and Wendy
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should—I really don’t see a reason for this remake of the classic childhood tale from Scotland’s J.M. Barre, but Peter Pan has become one of Disney’s most enduring characters. He’s even the host of his own attraction, Peter Pan’s Flight, in most Disney parks. And hey, it’s a kick to see Jude Law as Capt. Hook (Disney+).

SATURDAY, April 29
Moonage Daydream
Acclaimed 2022 doc about the music and life of glitter rocker David Bowie comes to TV (8 p.m., HBO).

SUNDAY, April 30
Tom Jones on Masterpiece
Four-part new adaptation (above) of one of the great novels in the English language, with a new twist to its tale of a young man’s love for a wealthy heiress (9 p.m., PBS).

Fatal Attraction
This new series spin on the 1980s psychosexual classic (stewed rabbit, anyone?) stars Joshua Jackson, Lizzy Caplan, Amanda Peet and Toby Huss in a torrid tale of forbidden love and infidelity through a contemporary prism of strong women, personality disorders and dangerously tangled webs (Paramount+).

MONDAY, May 1
A Small Light
Bel Powley, Joe Cole and Live Schreiber star in this new limited series based on the inspiring true story of the women who played a critical role in hiding Anne Frank and her family during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam (9 p.m., National Geographic).

Undercover Underage
Reality series focuses on a nonprofit working with decoys to entrap would-be predators (9 p.m., ID).

TUESDAY, May 2
Thalia’s Mixtape
Docuseries about the young Latin global superstar and her musical influences (Paramount+).

King Charles: The Boy Who Walked Alone
Royals alert: Longtime friends, school chums and Buckingham Palace staffers offer up recollections of Britain’s new monarch ahead of his coronation in this new 90-minute documentary (above) sure to delight fans of all things Brit-ty (Paramount+).

Bring It Home

Woody Harrelson stars in Champions (Universal Home Entertainment) as a former basketball coach who finds new purpose in his life when he’s court-ordered to take on a team with intellectual disabilities. With Cheech Marin, Ernie Hudson and Kaitlin Olson. 

WEDNESDAY, May 3
Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All
How did a young stuttering British child grow up to become a global superstar? Find out in this new musical documentary that examines the life and career of the London-born singer-songwriter (Disney+).

Pete Davidson stars in ‘Bupkis,’ based on his own life.

THURSDAY, May 4
Bupkis
Pete Davidson stars in this new half-hour live action comedy with a fictionalized spin on his life (Peacock). 

Star Wars: Visions
Second installment of the popular streaming series, pushing the Star Wars mythos into new realms of storytelling with animated shorts from studios around the world (Disney+).

Apr 14 2023
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Books, DVDs, Pop Culture, Television

The Entertainment Forecast

Friday, April 14 – Thursday, April 20

Jennifer Garner hunts for her husband, Betty Gilpin plays a streetwise nun & Kerri Russell stars as ‘The Diplomat’

Jennifer Garner searches for her missing husband in ‘The Last Thing He Told Me.’


FRIDAY, April 14
The Last Thing He Told Me
Jennifer Garner stars in this gripping new drama series based on the New York Times No. 1 bestselling novel, about a woman who must form an alliance with her teenage stepdaughter (Angourie Rice) in order to solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearance (Apple TV+).   

Jane
New kids-focused series, inspired by the life of pioneering zoologist Jane Goodall, stars Ava Louise Murchison as young environmentalist (also named Jane) on a quest to save endangered animals (Apple TV+).

SUNDAY, April 16
The Phantom of the Opera
It’s leaving Broadway after a run of more than 25 years. But now you can watch from your home with this performance of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical stage production filmed live at the Royal Albert Hall (BroadwayHD).

Ciao House
Chow down on some fine Italian cuisine in this new cooking competition in Tuscany, the epicenter of Italian life, hosted by Alex Guarnaschelli and Gabriele Bertaccini (9 p.m., Food Network and Discovery+).

MONDAY, April 17
The Weakest Link
Jane Lynch hosts the season three return of the quick-witted game show in which contestants must work together to bank prize money—and eliminate the “weakest” among them (8 p.m., NBC)

Live with Kelly and Mark
Actor Mark Consuelos comes aboard officially to join his wife, Kelly Ripa, after the departure of long-time co-host Ryan Seacrest from daytime’s longest-running talk show (7 a.m., ABC).

BRING IT HOME


Channing Tatum returns to the role he created over a decade ago in Magic Mike’s Last Dance (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment). He’s Mike Lane, a former male stripper now returning to the stage for a last hurrah with a new group of male exotic dancers. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, who also directed the original MM, and Salma Hayek hops aboard as a wealthy patron who can afford a $60,000 lap dance. Right!

If a bear toots cocaine in the forest, and there’s no one around to see it… This isn’t a riddle, it’s Cocaine Bear (Universal Home Entertainment), a rip-roaring comedy—yes, a comedy—based on a true story. With Keri Russell and Margo Martindale, and marking one of the final film appearances of Ray Liotta. If you’re up for some offbeat, snarling fun, it’s grrrrrrrr-eat!

Author Raymond Chandler’s iconic noir detective gets an update in Marlowe (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment), as the classic gumshoe gets a new star, Liam Neeson, and a new mission. With femme fatale support from Jessica Lange and Diane Kruger.

TUESDAY, April 18
Longest Third Date
Romantic sparks fly when a couple, Matt and Kahani, meet online. But when they fly on a wild whim to Costa Rica for date number three, they get stuck there as the world shuts down for the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 (Netflix).

Deadliest Catch
Let’s go crabbin’! Tonight’s two-hour premiere kicks off a new season of this reality series about competing groups of net-casters hoping to cash in on Alaskan Crab (8 p.m., Discovery).

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Which President played so most golf, he had a putting green installed at the White House? Which one ran a horseshoe league from the Oval Office? What really went down when Barack O’Bama played a pickup game of hoops with the North Carolina Tarheels…and later won the state by .3 percent of the vote? Find out in Power Players (Twelve) by former CNN reporter Chris Zilla, which offers an enlightening looks at U.S. presidents and their sports passions, from the spectator sidelines to the playing field. 

Most fans know the Three Stooges mostly by their “shorts,” the 190 short films they made for Columbia Pictures in the 1930s thru the ‘50s. Now A Tour de Farce: The Complete History of the Three Stooges on the Road, by Gary Lassin, is the first-ever compendium of the iconic trio’s five decades of taking their show on the road, with appearances in theaters and auditoriums, on military bases, at circuses and for hospital patients. With hundreds of never-before-published photos, tour documents and local reviews, it’s a delightfully detailed flashback to a “lost” chapter in the career of one of pop culture’s most enduring comedy teams.

WEDNESDAY, April 19
Niagara Falls  
Learn all about the world’s fastest-moving waterfall (and its second largest) and the wide variety of wildlife that call this geological wonder home. P.S., bring your own barrel! (8 p.m., PBS).

Let’s Make a Deal
Grammy nominee Jordan Sparks helps celebrate the U.S. military in tonight’s first in a run of prime-time special editions of the popular daytime game show hosted by Wayne Brady (9 p.m., CBS).

Pretty Stoned
New comedy series about, yes, attractive stoners who run afoul of a female drug lord (above). It’s got a mostly female cast, including Pretty Vee, Paris Berelc and Kandi Burruss-Tucker (8 p.m., MTV).

Betty Gilpin is a nun who fights ‘Mrs. Davis.’

THURSDAY, April 20
Mrs. Davis
Betty Gilpin (of GLOW) stars in new drama series as a streetwise nun who goes to battle with an all-powerful artificial intelligence known as “Mrs. Davis,” forcing the sister (and us) to re-examine the systems and institutions in which we put our faith (Peacock).

Keri Russell stars as a harried ambassador in ‘The Diplomat.’

The Diplomat
If you liked The West Wing and Homeland, you’ll love this new series (from the same creative team) starring Keri Russell as a U.S. foreign ambassador trying to hold her marriage together as her political world is threatening to fall apart (Netflix).

Apr 05 2023
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Movie Reviews, Music, Pop Culture, Sports

If the Shoe Fits

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck score big in their modern Cinderella story about one of the greatest underdog victories in sports marketing history

Matt Damon stars as a Nike marketing exec in ‘Air.’

Air
Starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis & Jason Bateman
Directed by Ben Affleck
Rated PG-13

In theaters Wednesday, March 5

Move over, Cinderella, and make way for another shoe story. And this one’s no far-off fairy fable.  

Director Ben Affleck’s earnestly crowd-pleasing Air tells the true tale of how a third-rate sneaker company signed a teenage college basketball phenom, Michael Jordan, and revolutionized everything that followed. One of the most groundbreaking deals in the annals of sports marketing, Nike’s affiliation with Jordan sparked quantum changes in pro sports as well as the realms of fashion, celebrity endorsements and lifestyle.  

It catapulted Nike to the top of the sports-shoe pyramid and eventually made Jordan—today widely recognized as pro basketball’s GOAT, its greatest player of all time—an ever-growing multi-million mountain of moola, dwarfing what he ever earned in his entire NBA career as a superstar for the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards.

Air is a rah-rah, rousing feel-good story about taking risks, following gut instincts, sweating bullets and scoring big. It’s like sports in that regard, but it’s not really a “sports drama.” It spends very little time courtside. Most of the plays we see are as business execs watch grainy scouting tapes. The central figure of the story, Jordan, appears only briefly, a silent sentinental seen almost always from behind. We never get a good look at his face, and we hear him speak only one word, “Hello,” over a telephone.

He’s a looming presence without really being present. It’s a bold, completely effective choice from director Affleck, who knows that dwelling too much on Jordan as a character would take us away from the “sole” of the story and the people who made it happen.

So Jordan, and the game of basketball itself, are sidelined as movie focuses, instead, on the human drama—fathers, sons, workaholic businessmen and one super-savvy mom who connected all the dots, against all the odds. It’s like Moneyball crossed with Jerry Maguire and a dash of David and Goliath.

Ben Affleck is Nike’s philosophical founder, Phil Knight.

It opens in the heart of the go-go, greed-is-good 1980s as we learn how Nike is on the financial ropes, floundering far behind its competitors, Adidas and Converse. The board of directors is pressuring CEO and founder Phil Knight (Ben Affleck) to cut corners and slash budgets. Advertising honcho Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman) bemoans that “George Orwell was right: 1984 is a terrible year—sales are down, growth is down.”

And Nike is down. But Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), in the company’s basketball scouting division, has a bold brainstorm to turn things around…maybe. He wants to use the company’s entire marketing budget to lure Michael Jordan, then only 18, into an endorsement deal, custom designing a shoe that “fits” him in more ways than one, footwear that will become his emblem, his lifestyle, his legacy.

Sonny knows that if his gamble doesn’t roll out a winner, he’ll be out of a job. But he’s all-in. “We build a shoe line just around him. He doesn’t wear the shoe, he is the shoe,” he says. “I’m willing to bet my career on one guy.”

The shoe, of course, would be the Air Jordan, so named for Jordan’s jaw-dropping leaping abilities as a prolific scorer.

Viola Davis plays the mother of teenage basketball phenom Michael Jordan.

Viola Davis plays Jordan’s mother, a shrewd negotiator who innately understands the longterm value her supremely gifted son brings to the table. Marlon Wayans is George Raveling, a superstar basketball coach who only appears briefly but offers some enduring words of inspiration from his past. Comedian Chris Tucker steals his scenes as a Nike marketer with some valuable insights for Vaccaro, especially in dealing with Black athletes. “Always go the mamas,” he tells him. “The mamas run stuff.”

Chris Messina has some spicy comedic bite as a Jordan’s hard-driving agent, David Falk. Matthew Maher is the shoe designer who comes up with the iconic, inspired design for a product that would ultimately travel far, far above and beyond the basketball court.

It’s a juicy, Oscar-bait ensemble, but Damon’s Vaccaro is the heart and soul of the story, the bedraggled underdog who rallies his Nike cohorts—his teammates—behind his big, high-stakes push to land a legend…and help create another one in the process.

Air is Affleck’s fifth project as a director, and it brims with the confidence and slam-dunk sure-footedness he’s developed in The Town, the Oscar-nominated Argo, Gone Baby Gone and Live by Night. The film is rich with ‘80s period-piece touches (handheld video games, Trivial Pursuit, VCRs, running suits) and a soundtrack of expertly curated MTV-era hits (“Blister in the Sun,” “Money for Nothing,” “Born in the USA,” “Time After Time”). It marks the first project of the production company, Artists Infinity, Affleck formed with Damon, his childhood bestie from the ‘hood in Massachusetts.

This is the ninth film in which Damon and Affleck have appeared together, beginning with uncredited appearances as Fenway Park extras in another sports-related human drama, Field of Dreams. They have a natural, unforced ease onscreen together, a natural stride that feels like, well, two old friends who’ve marched along the same path together for years, often as collaborators, doing what they always dreamed of doing, now getting to do it in Hollywood’s big leagues.

And in Air, they’ve found a shoe—and a shoe story—that feels like it fits them perfectly, a cinematic Cinderella’s slipper accented with the Nike swoosh.

—Neil Pond

Mar 31 2023
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Books, Pop Culture, Television

The Entertainment Forecast

Friday, March 31 – Thursday, April 6

Sandler’s new ‘Murder Mystery,’ a return to ‘Schimagdoon!’ & Jim Belushi goes to pot

Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler reunite for another ‘Murder Mystery.’

FRIDAY, March 31
Murder Mystery 2
Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston return for more adventures as a clue-sniffing couple hoping trying start their own private-eye agency—and finding themselves in the middle of an international abduction when one of their friends goes missing (Netflix).

The Power
Toni Collette, John Leguizamo, Eddie Marsan and Auli’i Cravalho star in this new series a sci-fi thriller about what happens when teenage girls suddenly develop a superpower—to electrocute people at will. Yikes! (Prime Video)

Rye Lane
In this streaming movie, two 20-somethings (Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson) both reeling from bad break-ups connect on one eventual day in South London, where they help each other in dealing with their nightmare exes (Hulu).

SATURDAY, April 1
The Ten Commandments
It must be Easter! This 1956 classic, starring Charlton Heston (above) as Moses and Yul Brynner as Pharoah, gets trotted out this time every year. Spoiler alert: The Red Sea parts (7 p.m., ABC).

Very Scary People
Donnie Walhberg hosts the new season of this investigative true-crime series, which dives into diabolical acts and the twisted individuals who commit them (9 p.m., Investigation Discovery).

SUNDAY, April 2
Beat Bobby Flay
Natalie Morales, co-host of TV’s The Talk, heads to kitchen with Eddie Jackson, sending a pair of chefs on a mission to beat Bobby Flay in a whipped-up battle of Scotch eggs (9 p.m., Food Network).

CMT Music Awards
Live from Austin, Texas: Hitmakers Kane Brown and Kelsi Ballerini (left) host this annual event honoring country music videos and performers, including Laney Wilson, who leads with four nominations (8 p.m., CMT).

MONDAY, April 3
Race to Survive Alaska
Think you’ve got what it takes to endure the harsh extremes of our northernmost state? Well, you might think again when you watch this cherry-picked group of adventure racers and survival experts trying to endure more 100 miles of inhospitable terrain—equipped with only what they can carry—in this high-stakes competition for half a million dollars (11 p.m., USA Network).

TUESDAY, April 4
FBI
TV worlds from FBI, FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted collide—and collaborate—in this crossover event, which features Dylan McDermott, Missy Peregrym and Luke Kleintank (8 p.m., CBS and Paramount+).

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Sports fans will flip for Got Your Number (Hyperion Avenue), by ESPN’s Mike Greenburg and Paul Hembekides, a stats-saturated dive into 100 sports legends, creatively woven into a “countdown” of the numbers they became famous for wearing. So put on your favorite jersey and let the games begin!

WEDNESDAY, April 5
Schmigadoon!
The acclaimed, Emmy-winning musical comedy series starring Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong returns for a much-anticipated second season, with all-new songs, hilarious supporting roles by Martin Short, Kristin Chenoweth, Ariana Debose, Alan Cumming and more, and a bright new parade of special guests (Apple TV+).

Growing Belushi
New season continues the adventures of actor Jim Belushi (yes, the brother of the late John Belushi) as he works toward expanding his cannabis brand in Oregon (9 p.m., Discovery Channel).

Dave
New sitcom starring comedian and rapper Dave Burd, who stars as a comedian who discovers much about America on a country-crisscrossing tour—and also a bit about the pressures that fame can put on love and friendship (10 p.m., FX). 

Tricia Fukuhara, Marisa Davila, Cheyenne Wells and Ari Notartomaso star in a new ‘Grease’ spinoff.

THURSDAY, April 6
Grease: The Rise of the Pink Ladies
New streaming series (above) takes place in the mid-1950s, before the events of the movie Grease, and follows four female outcasts determined to have big fun on their own terms (Paramount+)

Slasher: Ripper
Will & Grace’s Eric McCormack stars in this fifth-season edition of the horror anthology series as a ruthless tycoon in the late 19 century while a bloodthirsty killer stalks the streets, looking to mete out justice to the rich and powerful (AMC+).

Mar 24 2023
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Books, DVDs, Music, Pop Culture, Television

The Entertainment Forecast

March 24 – March 30

Looking for the next big country star, investigating space aliens & celebrating a ‘Young & Restless’ milestone

Reese Witherspoon & Kacey Musgraves are looking for new country stars in “My Kind of Country.”

FRIDAY, March 24
Up Here
Romcom musical series (from Steven Levenson, who wrote Dear Evan Hansen and tick, tick…BOOM!) stars Mae (Good Girls) Whitman and Carlos (Gaslit) Valdes as young couple reevaluating their relationship, along with their hopes, dreams, fears and fantasies (Hulu).

My Kind of Country
Talent-scout country artists Mickey Guyton, Jimmie Allen and Orville Peck hunt for the next big country star in this new unscripted competition series from executive-producer big shots Reese Witherspoon (a Nashville native!) and Grammy-winning country singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves (Apple TV+).

READ ALL ABOUT IT


Can you believe it’s been half a century since Pink Floyd’s iconic album first hit the charts? Now a lavish coffee-table book, Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon (Thames & Hudson) celebrates the musical milestone with rare and previously unseen photos of the British band on tour, documentation of tour dates, and a visual chronicle of the enigmatic artwork that would become the emblem for one of the most celebrated rock albums of all time.

SATURDAY, March 25
Unexplained: Caught on Camera
Experts attempt to explain unexplainable events, including twin brothers who swear they were abducted by visitors from another world, and an hunter who gets more than any eyeful when he sets up a camera in the Montana wilderness (9 a.m., Travel Channel).

SUNDAY, March 26
Great Expectations
My sixth-grade reading assignment lives on! This new adaptation stars Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham, plus a wide cast of others playing characters first presented on the page in Charles Dickens’ coming-of-age classic, which first appeared in 1860 as a serialized magazine story (Hulu).

Rabbit Hole
Nothing is what it seems to be in this new thriller streaming series, in which a master of corporate espionage (24‘s Kiefer Sutherland) is framed for murder by powerful forces with the ability to influence entire populations (Paramount+).

Searching for Mexico
And gee, I thought I already knew where it was… In this six-episode series, actress/producer/director Eva Longoria (right) retraces her cultural and culinary roots south of the border. Produced by Stanley Tucci (10 p.m., CNN).

Succession
The Emmy-winning drama-dark comedy series returns tonight to begin its fourth season, further exploring the power struggle between media magnate Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and his four grown children. Alexander Skarsgård returns as a tech visionary (9 p.m., HBO).

Yellowjackets
The hit drama—about a young soccer team that splinters into brutal clans of survivalists after an airplane crash—kicks off season two tonight. Hang on: It’s gonna be another wild ride!  (9 p.m., Showtime).

MONDAY, March 27
Like a Girl
New six-part streaming series profiles championship women in sports—females who turn the derogatory phrase “Like a girl” inside out, including swimmers, volleyball players, soccer stars and basketballers (Fuse).

The Young and the Restless 50th Anniversary Celebration
Has it really been half a century since this iconic daytime soap started stirring up the suds? Yep, and this primetime special commemorates the TV milestone with cast interviews, highlights and a deep dive into the show’s storylines of romance, feuds, rivalries, weddings and wardrobe (8 p.m., CBS).

TUESDAY, March 28
The Movement and The Madman
Find out about this little-remembered chapter of the 1960s, when President Richard Nixon and the antiwar movement came to a tense showdown (9 p.m., PBS).

FBI True
There are certainly a lot of “true crime” shows on TV. But this one is different, taking a gritty look at the real-life pressures faced by agents, in their own words, after events like the Waco standoff and a Manhattan bombing (Paramount+).

BRING IT HOME


A stylish remake of one of the classic anti-war films of all time from 1930, the Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front depicts the horrors of World War I from the perspective of young German soldiers who endure the hellishness of battle (Capelight/Netflix). 

WEDNESDAY, March 29
The Big Door Prize
Chris O’Dowd stars in this new comedy series about a small town forever changed with the arrival of a mysterious machine that appears to reveal everyone’s true potential, causing people to re-evaluate their life choices (Apple TV+).

THURSDAY, March 30
Rapcaviar Presents
It’s kind of a weird name, but this new documentary series looks at some of today’s most provocative issues through hip-hop artists and newcomers exploring current events and other topics with their music (Hulu). 

Unstable
Rob Lowe stars in this new eight-episode series comedy as a biotech entrepreneur working to make the world a better place while trying to reconcile with his estranged son (Netflix).

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