Always Be Streaming... cartoons and Dad TV
In a huge week for TV, we have the return of Bosch, Upload, Big Mouth, and the very odd Scavenger's Reign.
Animation, sci-fi, and Dad TV has propelled TV this week. But there’s still quite a bit for everyone in what is a pretty strong week of TV:
Some big animated returns this week. Rick & Morty returns for a 7th season with a new, less problematic, voice cast. Also back for a 7th season is Netflix’s Big Mouth.
Gamers might be keen to check out Netflix’s Captain Laserhawk. It is primarily based on the game Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, but it also incorporates characters from other games published by Unisoft.
I saw the first episode of Max original sci-fi animated show Scavenger’s Reign. I don’t really understand anything that happened in it, but I really liked the oddball mood of the show and am keen to watch more of it. It’s a sci-fi drama about several people across the galaxy scavenging and reminded me a lot of Owen D Pomery’s new (very good) graphic novel The Hard Switch.
I’ve seen most of season 3 of Prime Video’s Upload. This is a fantastic gem of a show. A big, broad sci-fi comedy, it is more interesting and charming than it is funny, but I always look forward to its return and was very pleased by most of the new season. If you haven’t yet seen it, the show is a satire about Silicon Valley tech culture disrupting the afterlife.
Sci-fi blurs with Dad TV in the new Netflix drama Bodies, which has an interesting premise about four murder investigations spaced out across 150 years, each investigating the exact same body. I haven’t had time to press play on that yet, but am keen to see how it is executed - the show, not the body.
Deeper into the realm of Dad TV is the return of the Daddiest TV of them all: Prime Video’s Bosch is back for season 2. The show is still dopey-ly named Bosch: Legacy, a supposed spin-off that is the exact same show as ‘Bosch’ - just now cheaper to produce.
Probably the most conventionally appealing show to debut this week is Paramount+ show The Burning Girls. Samantha Morton stars in the light horror that is best described as The Vicar of Dibley meets The Wicker Man.