Cripes, is Matthew Goode a handsome fella in a beard
Usually, the Always Be Streaming weekly newsletter is a subscriber-only benefit for those who support the daily Always Be Watching newsletter with a paid subscription. But, there have been a bunch of new daily email subscribers this past week or two, so I thought I’d let people know that this exists. Next week, it’s back to the paywall.
I had expected to lead this week’s newsletter with a rave review of new FX comedy Adults. This sort of show is absolutely my jam - a half-hour comedy about social miscreants encountering friction in their daily travels. I saw the trailer for Adults and immediately thought of comedies like The League, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and (very specifically) the little-seen and certainly long-forgotten 90s MTV comedy Austin Stories.
But… I kinda hated it. The jokes just didn’t land for me. And where I think the show has a big problem is that shows like this only really work with people who are social outsiders. It’s just hard to buy into the reality of impossibly good-looking, hip people having any problems like the characters in the show. Comedy is not for the attractive.
Not on my radar for this week, but it should have been, is new Netflix drama Dept Q. It’s the latest show from Scott Frank, who has had some success on Netflix previously with the western Godless and the smash hit chess drama The Queens Gambit. Scott Frank also has runs on the board as the screenwriter behind several of my favourite films Out of Sight, Get Shorty, and Michael Clayton (among many… he’s been prolific for decades now).
Dept Q is Frank doing an edgy (populist) British procedural - he’s openly admitted to shows like Line of Duty, Broadchurch, and Happy Valley as being inspirations. The show has Matthew Goode looking very dishevelled-handsome in a beard as a police detective who was the recent victim of a shooting. As investigators try to find the person who shot him and some colleagues, he has been assigned to a new cold case unit where he’s the sole(-ish) detective working the case.
Goode is great in this (he’s generally very goode-to-greate in most things…. sorry). The narrative and dialogue is sharp, which one expects from a Scott Frank film/TV show. And the show looks UK-crime gorgeous (most of the episodes are directed by Frank).
It’s an absolute must-watch this weekend.
Returning TV
The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy (s02), Rick & Morty (s08), And Just Like That (s03)
New TV
Dept Q - Netflix
Stars: Matthew Goode, Kelly Macdonald, Chloe Pirrie
Carl, a former top-rated detective, is wracked with guilt following an attack that left his partner paralysed and another policeman dead. On his return to work, Carl is assigned to a cold case that will consume his life.
Adults - FX/Hulu [US] | Disney+ [International]
Stars: Malik Elassal, Lucy Freyer, Jack Innanen, Amita Rao
A group of twenty-somethings in New York trying to be good people, despite being neither "good" nor "people" yet.
The Librarians: The Next Chapter -TNT [US] | BINGE [Aus]
Stars: Callum McGowan, Olivia Morris, Bluey Robinson
Follows a time traveling librarian from the past that unfortunately finds himself trapped in the present. Now he will be given a team of new librarians to clean up the mess he made, releasing magic across the continent.
The Better Sister - Prime Video
Stars: Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Banks, Kim Dickens, Corey Stoll, Matthew Modine
Chloe, a high-profile media executive, lives a picturesque life with her husband Adam and son; her estranged sister Nicky struggles to make ends meet; when Adam is murdered, the two sisters reunite and try to untangle a complicated family history.
That’s the TV listings newsletter for this week.
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