In Season 1 of HBO’s Peabody Award-winning dramedy “Somebody Somewhere,” Sam Miller (Bridget Everett) worked through her grief and anger in the months following her older sister Holly’s death. In Season 2, she struggled to find her place in her hometown again while managing her first big blowup with her best friend Joel (Jeff Hiller) […]

“I like laughin’ shows,” Georgie Cooper (Montana Jordan) declares in the opening scene of “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.” “Some shows you can hear people laughin’, and some you can’t. ‘The Wonder Years’ — no one’s laughin’. Is it funny? We’ll never know!” Georgie makes this observation while watching “Frasier,” a bit of ambient exposition that […]

The Apple TV+ dramedy “Shrinking” is — or at least, was — about a therapist, Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel), throwing professional ethics out the window in the wake of his wife’s tragic death. Whatever one thought of how the show portrayed therapy, and plenty were appalled by the idea that doctor-patient boundaries are more annoying […]

For a leading man in a massive series, Mark Harmon got to play Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs as a bit of a man of mystery on the “NCIS” franchise mothership series, at least up to the point that it had to exhaust whatever it was that put that haunted look in his baby blues. […]

No one films the ocean as a proxy for emotional extremes like Alfonso Cuarón. In films like “Children of Men,” “Gravity” and “Roma,” the Mexican director — often in conjunction with Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki — makes roiling waves a metaphor for everything from rebirth to safety to cathartic rebirth. In this respect, the new Apple TV+ […]

Based on the novel “Stinger” by Robert R. McCammon and adapted for television by Ian McCulloch, Peacock’s new horror series, “Teacup” begins as a fascinating and frightful narrative before descending into science-fiction madness that fails to stick to the landing. While the show, executive produced by “Saw” and “The Conjuring” filmmaker James Wan, has a […]

Two decades after their debut together in “Y Tu Mamá También” and more than a decade since “Casa de Mi Padre,” lifelong friends Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal (who both serve as executive producers) have reunited on screen again for Hulu’s first Spanish-language series, “La Máquina.” A stirring and engaging drama, despite its manic, […]

For all that comedian Ali Wong talks about sex onstage, her first three specials came from a place of inherent sexual constraint: a long-term, monogamous marriage. In “Single Lady,” her fourth, self-directed hour, all guardrails are off. Two years ago, Wong got divorced from her husband of nearly a decade. What followed was a carnal […]

Though HBO’s latest comedy is called “The Franchise,” there’s never any doubt which franchise creator Jon Brown (“Succession,” “Veep”) has in mind. The beleaguered crew, stressed-out producers and insecure stars of “Tecto: Eye of the Storm” comprise a tiny fiefdom of a sprawling empire. Overseen by an invisible puppetmaster, the master narrative is a jumbled […]

Based on Joan Hannington’s memoir, “I Am What I Am: The True Story of Britain’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief,” and adapted for television by Anna Symon, The CW’s “Joan” is a stellar crime series about opportunity, motherhood and the chances we are willing to take to go after the lives we desire. Sharp and slick, […]