You'll all be watching Squid Game and The Bear, but what you should be watching...
Volume-wise, it’s a quiet week for streaming. But, anticipation and title-wise, it’s a blockbuster.
Two of the absolute biggest shows on TV are back this week.
Squid Game has its final (?) batch of episodes now available, but with that final episode clearly creating a pathway to a US version of the show, it remains a bit unclear just how much we can consider it to be a final episode.
And then there’s The Bear. Certainly, the limp reception season 3 of the show saw has damaged the hype around the show, but it seems like folks are keen to check back in with it. And general reception seems to be that people are digging the show again.
Meanwhile, here’s my dilemma: I never finished season 3 and my Disney+ subscription recently lapsed. I’d like to watch The Bear, but also… I’ve been having a great time the last few days rewatching Northern Exposure on Prime Video.
Last night I watched the season one finale (it’s only an eight-episode first season). It’s an outstanding episode of TV - that’s the one with the aurora borealis, Joel discovers mythological woodland creature Adam (really a cantankerous ex-Vietnam vet turned chef played by Adam Arkin), and Chris in The Morning meets a travelling African American accountant who is mysteriously drawn to town and they discover they share the same travelling man father. All in the one episode. Just wonderful.
Maybe I’ll renew that Disney+ subscription in a few weeks once I finish my time in Cicely, Alaska.
New Prime Video series Countdown would love to be an action show on the level of, say, 24 or Burn Notice. But instead, with NCIS-level drama and action sequences that never quite deliver much in the way of thrills, the show lacks any real propulsion.
The real hidden gem this week is Smoke on Apple TV+. It’s the latest Dennis Lahane TV show. The show has been completely buried by not only the huge release TV shows this week, but also Apple’s own movie F1. Smoke reunites showrunner Lehane with Taron Egerton, the star of his Apple 2022 series Black Bird (it was underseen and very good). Smoke is a police procedural about an arson investigation, based on a true crime podcast. Maybe give it a few weeks, then burn through the first few episodes before going weekly with it. You’ll be very happy you get on-board with it.
Returning TV
The Gilded Age (s04), The Bear (s04), Squid Game (s03)
New TV
Countdown - Prime Video
Stars: Jensen Ackles, Eric Dane and Jessica Camacho
An LAPD officer joins a secret task force to investigate a suspicious murder, but uncovers a sinister plot that requires the team to unite and save millions in the city.
Smoke - Apple TV+
Stars: Taron Egerton; Jurnee Smollett; Rafe Spall; Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine; Hannah Emily Anderson; Greg Kinnear; John Leguizamo
When an arson investigator begrudgingly teams up with a police detective, their race to stop two arsonists ignites a twisted game of secrets and suspicions.
Ironheart - Disney+
Stars: Dominique Thorne, Anthony Ramos, Eric André, and Shea Couleé.
Genius teenage inventor Riri Williams creates the most advanced suit of armour since Iron Man.
That’s the TV listings newsletter for this week.
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