Television Shows coming in 2024 .....
Dec. 17th, 2023 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI should post in TV Talk - but I'm scared to?
Anyhow, here's the list of up and coming television series for 2024. Feel free to swipe, if you wish?
List of up and coming anticipated television series for 2024 via Rotten Tomatoes
(I'm admittedly not a fan of Rotten Tomatoes, but the list appears to be verified.)
1. Jodi Foster stars in the latest True Detective True Detective S4. - Night Country
Starring: Jodie Foster, Kali Reis
Premiere Date: January 14, 2024
The first of the crime anthology not written by creator Nic Pizzolatto, this chapter is written by Issa López and stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as Alaskan detectives investigating the disappearance of six people at a research center.
2. Funny Woman: Season 1 (2022) (PBS) (Also from Sky - UK)
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Rupert Everett, David Threlfall, Tom Bateman, Clare-Hope Ashitey
Premiere Date: January 7, 2024
Beauty queen Barbara Parker moves to London to find her place as a comedy star in the male-dominated sitcom industry of the 1960s in this adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel.
3. Monsieur Spade: Season 1 (2024) (AMC/AMC+/Acorn TV)
Starring: Clive Owen, Cara Bossom, Denis Ménochet, Louise Bourgoin, Chiara Mastroianni
Premiere Date: January 14, 2024
A televised look at book author Dashiell Hammett’s dashing detective, the character Humphrey Bogart made infamous in the film adaptation of Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, this show is set 20 years after the events of that story. Sam Spade has retired in the small town of Bozouls in southern France. It’s 1963 and the war has ended. Unfortunately for Spade, so too will his tranquility.
4. Masters of the Air: Season 1 (2024) (Apple TV+)
Starring: Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann
Premiere Date: January 26, 2024
Another big-budget World War II epic from the teams who produced the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific, this one focuses on members of 100th Bomb Group.
5. Feud: Capote vs. The Swans: Season 2 (2024) (FX)
Starring: Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockhart, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, Tom Hollander, Treat Williams
Premiere Date: January 31, 2024
Tom Hollander plays Truman Capote, the acclaimed writer who betrays his relationships with members of New York high society by writing thinly-veiled accounts of their personal lives. Based on Laurence Leamer’s Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era and with a screenplay by Jon Robin Baitz, this is still a series executive produced by Ryan Murphy and therefore has lots of famous people playing once-famous people (Naomi Watts as influential editor and socialite Babe Paley; Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, the socialite and Jackie Kennedy’s younger sister).
This could be fun. I love the cast. And I'd read about this.
6. Echo: Season 1 (2024) (Disney+)
Starring: Alaqua Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Graham Greene, Cody Lightning, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon
Premiere Date: January 10, 2024
A spin-off to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Hawkeye series, it follows Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez/Echo as she returns to her hometown in Oklahoma. There, she reconnects with her Native American roots while also coming to terms with events of her past.
The show also brings in other MCU talent like Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin and Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil.
7. Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Season 1 (2024) (Prime Video)
Starring: Donald Glover, Maya Erskine
Premiere Date: February 2, 2024
A new take on the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie movie in almost name only, the story stars two lonely strangers who land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency but must hold identities as a married couple.
8. The New Look: Season 1 (2024) (Apple TV+ - is really leading the pack on historical costume dramas.)
Starring: Ben Mendelsohn, Juliette Binoche, Maisie Williams, John Malkovich, Emily Mortimer [Great cast.]
Premiere Date: February 14, 2024
Fashion is on display in this miniseries centering on the lives of Christian Dior and Coco Channel (portrayed by Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche, respectively). But it’s also a World War II drama that stars Maisie Williams as Christian’s sister, and French Resistance fighter, Catherine Dior.
9. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 1 (2024) (Netflix)
Starring: Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-hyung Lee
Premiere Date: February 22, 2024
A live-action remake of the animated series, the show is set in a war-torn world where some people have the ability to “bend” one of the four classical elements. Gordon Cormier as Aang, a 12-year-old who is the “bridge” between the mortal and spirit worlds and someone who can bend each of the elements.
The series has suffered some behind-the-scenes drama. Original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko left the project in 2020, with DiMartino publishing an open letter on his website that read, in part, “whatever version ends up on-screen, it will not be what Bryan and I had envisioned or intended to make.” Albert Kim took over as showrunner a year later.
10. Shōgun: Season 1 (2024) (FX/Hulu)
Starring: Cosmo Jarvis, Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai
Premiere Date: February 27, 2024
Created by Rachel Kondo and Counterpart’s Justin Marks, the period drama based on the James Clavell novel stars Cosmo Jarvis as the shipwrecked Pilot Major John Blackthorne and Hiroyuki Sanada as the shrewd and powerful daimyo Lord Yoshii Toranaga. Anna Sawai also stars as Toda Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties.
11. Elsbeth: Season 1 (2024) (CBS)
Starring: Carrie Preston, Wendell Pierce
Premiere Date: February 29, 2024
The latest spin-off of the CBS hit The Good Wife focuses on Emmy winner Carrie Preston’s Elsbeth Tascioni. This show finds the quirky and unconventional attorney leaving her job as a defense attorney in Chicago to help the NYPD solve creative crimes.
12. Girls5Eva: Season 3 (Netflix) - was on Peacock, now on Netflix who swiped it from Peacock after Peacock cancelled it. (Now, if MAX would just swipe Six of Crows and Shadow and Bone.)
Starring: Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell, Busy Philipps
Premiere Date: March 14, 2024
They got the band back together. Creator Meredith Scardino’s show about the adult members of a ’90s one-hit-wonder girl group hits the road to Netflix for its third season, which will be the new home for all seasons of the musical comedy since Peacock cut its mic after Season 2. Sure, they’re now grown women balancing spouses, kids, jobs, aging parents and debt. But they also will never stop being Girls5Eva.
13. 3 Body Problem: Season 1 (2024) (Netflix)
Starring: Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Sea Shimooka, Benedict Wong
Premiere Date: March 21, 2024
Adapted from Liu Cixin’s book series The Three-Body Problem by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and The Terror: Infamy showrunner Alexander Woo*, this drama looks at how one incident that happens during China’s Cultural Revolution leads to events that cross space and time.
14. Apples Never Fall (Peacock) - this almost makes me wish I had Peacock. (Also when will they make my two favorite books of Moriarity and the only two I read into series? The Husbands Secret, and What Alice Forgot? I struggle with her book's endings - they don't quite work for me. I like Minette Walters slightly better.)
Starring: Annette Bening, Sam Neill, Alison Brie, Jake Lacy, Conor Merrigan-Turner, Essie Randles
Premiere Date: March 2024
Based on the book by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty and created by Melanie Marnich, the miniseries is a family drama mixed with mystery. Annette Bening and Sam Neill play Joy and Stan, retirees who have just sold their tennis academy and are getting ready to kick back, relax and spend time with their now-adult children. Things change when a mysterious young woman comes to their door. And things only get weirder when Joy disappears.
************
* Bridgerton S3 - Finally - Netflix
Starring: Nicola Coughlan, Luke Newton, Claudia Jessie
Premiere Date: May 16, 2024 (Part 1); June 13, 2024 (Part 2)
The upcoming third season of Bridgerton will break from tradition and not focus as much on one member of the titular siblings as it will on one of their biggest fans: Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope. Having given up her long-held torch for third Bridgerton son Colin (Luke Newton) and scorned by the comments she heard him make about her last season, Penelope decides it’s time she find a husband. She’d prefer one who will both take her away from her awful mother and sisters and provide her with enough independence to continue her double life as Lady Whistledown.
* Andor: Season 2 (Disney+)
Starring: Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgard
Premiere Date: 2024
The second (and final) season of the Emmy-nominated Andor was scheduled to be released in August 2024. However, this news was announced before the elongated SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. The series stars Diego Luna as his Star Wars character Cassian Andor and is set ahead of the events in those films.
[Apparently just two seasons.]
*Hacks: Season 3 (Max)
Starring: Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder
Premiere Date: 2024
The second season of the Emmy-winning comedy Hacks saw comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and comedy writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) rehabilitate their careers with the success of a stage show that they’d workshopped. But then Deborah fired Ava, effectively ending their dysfunctional partnership. How will Ava do now that she’s flying solo as a successful writer?
* Interview with the Vampire: Season 2 (AMC+)
Starring: Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Delainey Hayles
Premiere Date: 2024
The second season of the sultry adaptation of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles book series comes with some recasting (Delainey Hayles is replacing Bailey Bass as the forever young Claudia). It will also introduce a new character to the TV series: Ben Daniels’ Santiago, the lead player in the Theatre des Vampires performance troupe who has a keen interest in Louis (Jacob Anderson).
* The Night Agent: Season 2 (Netflix)
Starring: Gabriel Basso, Amanda Warren
Premiere Date: 2024
The Burial star Amanda Warren joins the second season of creator Shawn Ryan’s popular action thriller. The series, which is based on the books by Matthew Quirk, stars Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland. An FBI agent stationed to work the night shift at the White House, Peter discovered (and then thwarted) a major terrorist conspiracy last season. This lead to a big promotion for Peter. But does it also mean more danger?
* The Regime (HBO)
Starring: Kate Winslet, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts, Hugh Grant, Martha Plimpton
Premiere Date: 2024
Created by Will Tracy and directed by Stephen Frears and Jessica Hobb, this miniseries is a political satire that presents one year within the walls of the palace of a modern European regime as it begins to unravel.
* Ripley (Netflix)
Starring: Andrew Scott
Premiere Date: 2024
Created by Steven Zaillian and based on the Patricia Highsmith crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, this miniseries follows Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) after a case of mistaken identity leads him to a world of riches, infatuation and murder. Other stars include Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf and Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood.
[Interesting - this has been done three times now. 1) Purple Noon - where Alan Delon played Ripley, and was by far the best looking. 2) Matt Damon in the Talented Mr. Ripley, and now Andrew Scott in a miniseries...]
* The Sympathizer (Max)
Starring: Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Robert Downey Jr.
Premiere Date: 2024
Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, this miniseries is both an espionage thriller and a cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War (and his resulting exile in the United States).
**
Whew. There's a lot of television shows. Those are mainly new ones. And I didn't list all of them. I only highlighted fifteen of over twenty. Noticing a lot are adapted from books and video games.
***
I've been watching old movies. Watched The Way We Were finally - 1973. Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, produced by Ray Stark and Sydney Pollack, directed by Pollack (who I've actually met in person). It's good, but I agree with Streisand, the deleted scenes - three of them - kind of weakened the film. I went to watch the deleted scenes after watching the film. However those who didn't know about them, didn't notice a difference - and I only did because I listened to Streisand discuss it prior to watching it. I don't know how I'd have reacted without listening to her discuss it first. It's an excellent film about how a relationship doesn't work and can't succeed because the two people in it don't quite click. They want different things in life, and really different lives. Weirdly, I felt more sympathy for Redford's character than Streisand's - mainly because he tries to tell her from the very beginning that they can't work - but he can't quite articulate why, and so she persuades him to stick it out, and he loses the most when they finally break up. And I can't help but wonder, if my sympathy would have switched to Streisand, and I'd have felt more at the ending - if those deleted scenes remained?
Gave up on Topper - it was boring.
And I watched the final Doctor Who Special - which surprised me. I didn't expect that. It was much better than expected. After the last three seasons of Doctor Who - my expectations have been lowered. However, these Specials were really good. The last one did slip a wee bit into soap box territory, but overall a good episode with a suitably frightening villain, and superior production values. Neil Patrick Harris did an excellent job in the supporting role. Although I agree - his German accent was relatively cartoonish.
Welcome back, RT Davies. I apparently underestimated your abilities here.
***
I need to finish a few television series. Lessons in Chemistry, the Buccaneers, Gilded Age, For All Mankind, Virgin River, Castlevania. I've been busy - so woefully behind.
Oh, and Barbie (the Greta Gerwig film) is coming to MAX. It's free on Max, and exclusive to Max.
Anyhow, here's the list of up and coming television series for 2024. Feel free to swipe, if you wish?
List of up and coming anticipated television series for 2024 via Rotten Tomatoes
(I'm admittedly not a fan of Rotten Tomatoes, but the list appears to be verified.)
1. Jodi Foster stars in the latest True Detective True Detective S4. - Night Country
Starring: Jodie Foster, Kali Reis
Premiere Date: January 14, 2024
The first of the crime anthology not written by creator Nic Pizzolatto, this chapter is written by Issa López and stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as Alaskan detectives investigating the disappearance of six people at a research center.
2. Funny Woman: Season 1 (2022) (PBS) (Also from Sky - UK)
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Rupert Everett, David Threlfall, Tom Bateman, Clare-Hope Ashitey
Premiere Date: January 7, 2024
Beauty queen Barbara Parker moves to London to find her place as a comedy star in the male-dominated sitcom industry of the 1960s in this adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel.
3. Monsieur Spade: Season 1 (2024) (AMC/AMC+/Acorn TV)
Starring: Clive Owen, Cara Bossom, Denis Ménochet, Louise Bourgoin, Chiara Mastroianni
Premiere Date: January 14, 2024
A televised look at book author Dashiell Hammett’s dashing detective, the character Humphrey Bogart made infamous in the film adaptation of Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, this show is set 20 years after the events of that story. Sam Spade has retired in the small town of Bozouls in southern France. It’s 1963 and the war has ended. Unfortunately for Spade, so too will his tranquility.
4. Masters of the Air: Season 1 (2024) (Apple TV+)
Starring: Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann
Premiere Date: January 26, 2024
Another big-budget World War II epic from the teams who produced the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific, this one focuses on members of 100th Bomb Group.
5. Feud: Capote vs. The Swans: Season 2 (2024) (FX)
Starring: Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockhart, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, Tom Hollander, Treat Williams
Premiere Date: January 31, 2024
Tom Hollander plays Truman Capote, the acclaimed writer who betrays his relationships with members of New York high society by writing thinly-veiled accounts of their personal lives. Based on Laurence Leamer’s Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era and with a screenplay by Jon Robin Baitz, this is still a series executive produced by Ryan Murphy and therefore has lots of famous people playing once-famous people (Naomi Watts as influential editor and socialite Babe Paley; Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, the socialite and Jackie Kennedy’s younger sister).
This could be fun. I love the cast. And I'd read about this.
6. Echo: Season 1 (2024) (Disney+)
Starring: Alaqua Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Graham Greene, Cody Lightning, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon
Premiere Date: January 10, 2024
A spin-off to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Hawkeye series, it follows Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez/Echo as she returns to her hometown in Oklahoma. There, she reconnects with her Native American roots while also coming to terms with events of her past.
The show also brings in other MCU talent like Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin and Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil.
7. Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Season 1 (2024) (Prime Video)
Starring: Donald Glover, Maya Erskine
Premiere Date: February 2, 2024
A new take on the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie movie in almost name only, the story stars two lonely strangers who land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency but must hold identities as a married couple.
8. The New Look: Season 1 (2024) (Apple TV+ - is really leading the pack on historical costume dramas.)
Starring: Ben Mendelsohn, Juliette Binoche, Maisie Williams, John Malkovich, Emily Mortimer [Great cast.]
Premiere Date: February 14, 2024
Fashion is on display in this miniseries centering on the lives of Christian Dior and Coco Channel (portrayed by Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche, respectively). But it’s also a World War II drama that stars Maisie Williams as Christian’s sister, and French Resistance fighter, Catherine Dior.
9. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 1 (2024) (Netflix)
Starring: Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-hyung Lee
Premiere Date: February 22, 2024
A live-action remake of the animated series, the show is set in a war-torn world where some people have the ability to “bend” one of the four classical elements. Gordon Cormier as Aang, a 12-year-old who is the “bridge” between the mortal and spirit worlds and someone who can bend each of the elements.
The series has suffered some behind-the-scenes drama. Original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko left the project in 2020, with DiMartino publishing an open letter on his website that read, in part, “whatever version ends up on-screen, it will not be what Bryan and I had envisioned or intended to make.” Albert Kim took over as showrunner a year later.
10. Shōgun: Season 1 (2024) (FX/Hulu)
Starring: Cosmo Jarvis, Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai
Premiere Date: February 27, 2024
Created by Rachel Kondo and Counterpart’s Justin Marks, the period drama based on the James Clavell novel stars Cosmo Jarvis as the shipwrecked Pilot Major John Blackthorne and Hiroyuki Sanada as the shrewd and powerful daimyo Lord Yoshii Toranaga. Anna Sawai also stars as Toda Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties.
11. Elsbeth: Season 1 (2024) (CBS)
Starring: Carrie Preston, Wendell Pierce
Premiere Date: February 29, 2024
The latest spin-off of the CBS hit The Good Wife focuses on Emmy winner Carrie Preston’s Elsbeth Tascioni. This show finds the quirky and unconventional attorney leaving her job as a defense attorney in Chicago to help the NYPD solve creative crimes.
12. Girls5Eva: Season 3 (Netflix) - was on Peacock, now on Netflix who swiped it from Peacock after Peacock cancelled it. (Now, if MAX would just swipe Six of Crows and Shadow and Bone.)
Starring: Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell, Busy Philipps
Premiere Date: March 14, 2024
They got the band back together. Creator Meredith Scardino’s show about the adult members of a ’90s one-hit-wonder girl group hits the road to Netflix for its third season, which will be the new home for all seasons of the musical comedy since Peacock cut its mic after Season 2. Sure, they’re now grown women balancing spouses, kids, jobs, aging parents and debt. But they also will never stop being Girls5Eva.
13. 3 Body Problem: Season 1 (2024) (Netflix)
Starring: Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Sea Shimooka, Benedict Wong
Premiere Date: March 21, 2024
Adapted from Liu Cixin’s book series The Three-Body Problem by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and The Terror: Infamy showrunner Alexander Woo*, this drama looks at how one incident that happens during China’s Cultural Revolution leads to events that cross space and time.
14. Apples Never Fall (Peacock) - this almost makes me wish I had Peacock. (Also when will they make my two favorite books of Moriarity and the only two I read into series? The Husbands Secret, and What Alice Forgot? I struggle with her book's endings - they don't quite work for me. I like Minette Walters slightly better.)
Starring: Annette Bening, Sam Neill, Alison Brie, Jake Lacy, Conor Merrigan-Turner, Essie Randles
Premiere Date: March 2024
Based on the book by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty and created by Melanie Marnich, the miniseries is a family drama mixed with mystery. Annette Bening and Sam Neill play Joy and Stan, retirees who have just sold their tennis academy and are getting ready to kick back, relax and spend time with their now-adult children. Things change when a mysterious young woman comes to their door. And things only get weirder when Joy disappears.
************
* Bridgerton S3 - Finally - Netflix
Starring: Nicola Coughlan, Luke Newton, Claudia Jessie
Premiere Date: May 16, 2024 (Part 1); June 13, 2024 (Part 2)
The upcoming third season of Bridgerton will break from tradition and not focus as much on one member of the titular siblings as it will on one of their biggest fans: Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope. Having given up her long-held torch for third Bridgerton son Colin (Luke Newton) and scorned by the comments she heard him make about her last season, Penelope decides it’s time she find a husband. She’d prefer one who will both take her away from her awful mother and sisters and provide her with enough independence to continue her double life as Lady Whistledown.
* Andor: Season 2 (Disney+)
Starring: Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgard
Premiere Date: 2024
The second (and final) season of the Emmy-nominated Andor was scheduled to be released in August 2024. However, this news was announced before the elongated SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. The series stars Diego Luna as his Star Wars character Cassian Andor and is set ahead of the events in those films.
[Apparently just two seasons.]
*Hacks: Season 3 (Max)
Starring: Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder
Premiere Date: 2024
The second season of the Emmy-winning comedy Hacks saw comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and comedy writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) rehabilitate their careers with the success of a stage show that they’d workshopped. But then Deborah fired Ava, effectively ending their dysfunctional partnership. How will Ava do now that she’s flying solo as a successful writer?
* Interview with the Vampire: Season 2 (AMC+)
Starring: Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Delainey Hayles
Premiere Date: 2024
The second season of the sultry adaptation of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles book series comes with some recasting (Delainey Hayles is replacing Bailey Bass as the forever young Claudia). It will also introduce a new character to the TV series: Ben Daniels’ Santiago, the lead player in the Theatre des Vampires performance troupe who has a keen interest in Louis (Jacob Anderson).
* The Night Agent: Season 2 (Netflix)
Starring: Gabriel Basso, Amanda Warren
Premiere Date: 2024
The Burial star Amanda Warren joins the second season of creator Shawn Ryan’s popular action thriller. The series, which is based on the books by Matthew Quirk, stars Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland. An FBI agent stationed to work the night shift at the White House, Peter discovered (and then thwarted) a major terrorist conspiracy last season. This lead to a big promotion for Peter. But does it also mean more danger?
* The Regime (HBO)
Starring: Kate Winslet, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts, Hugh Grant, Martha Plimpton
Premiere Date: 2024
Created by Will Tracy and directed by Stephen Frears and Jessica Hobb, this miniseries is a political satire that presents one year within the walls of the palace of a modern European regime as it begins to unravel.
* Ripley (Netflix)
Starring: Andrew Scott
Premiere Date: 2024
Created by Steven Zaillian and based on the Patricia Highsmith crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, this miniseries follows Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) after a case of mistaken identity leads him to a world of riches, infatuation and murder. Other stars include Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf and Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood.
[Interesting - this has been done three times now. 1) Purple Noon - where Alan Delon played Ripley, and was by far the best looking. 2) Matt Damon in the Talented Mr. Ripley, and now Andrew Scott in a miniseries...]
* The Sympathizer (Max)
Starring: Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Robert Downey Jr.
Premiere Date: 2024
Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, this miniseries is both an espionage thriller and a cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War (and his resulting exile in the United States).
**
Whew. There's a lot of television shows. Those are mainly new ones. And I didn't list all of them. I only highlighted fifteen of over twenty. Noticing a lot are adapted from books and video games.
***
I've been watching old movies. Watched The Way We Were finally - 1973. Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, produced by Ray Stark and Sydney Pollack, directed by Pollack (who I've actually met in person). It's good, but I agree with Streisand, the deleted scenes - three of them - kind of weakened the film. I went to watch the deleted scenes after watching the film. However those who didn't know about them, didn't notice a difference - and I only did because I listened to Streisand discuss it prior to watching it. I don't know how I'd have reacted without listening to her discuss it first. It's an excellent film about how a relationship doesn't work and can't succeed because the two people in it don't quite click. They want different things in life, and really different lives. Weirdly, I felt more sympathy for Redford's character than Streisand's - mainly because he tries to tell her from the very beginning that they can't work - but he can't quite articulate why, and so she persuades him to stick it out, and he loses the most when they finally break up. And I can't help but wonder, if my sympathy would have switched to Streisand, and I'd have felt more at the ending - if those deleted scenes remained?
Gave up on Topper - it was boring.
And I watched the final Doctor Who Special - which surprised me. I didn't expect that. It was much better than expected. After the last three seasons of Doctor Who - my expectations have been lowered. However, these Specials were really good. The last one did slip a wee bit into soap box territory, but overall a good episode with a suitably frightening villain, and superior production values. Neil Patrick Harris did an excellent job in the supporting role. Although I agree - his German accent was relatively cartoonish.
Welcome back, RT Davies. I apparently underestimated your abilities here.
***
I need to finish a few television series. Lessons in Chemistry, the Buccaneers, Gilded Age, For All Mankind, Virgin River, Castlevania. I've been busy - so woefully behind.
Oh, and Barbie (the Greta Gerwig film) is coming to MAX. It's free on Max, and exclusive to Max.