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      ‘Rotten Legacy’ Is a Soapy Spanish Succession Story

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      The premise of this foreign Netflix drama makes it sound a lot like “Succession,” but it isn’t trying to be. It’s brighter and pulpier than that.The Spanish soap “Rotten Legacy,” on Netflix (in Spanish, with subtitles, or dubbed), follows an ailing media czar and his unhappy heirs as they take turns manipulating and sabotaging one another.“Succession”? “Succession,” you say? Oh, not quite. “Legacy” is nowhere near as tense or textured, nor as funny, but it also isn’t trying to be. It’s bright and pulpy, juicy and impatient. Plenty of fraught and twisty board meetings, though.Federico (Jose Coronado) has spent the last two years away from his home and work, receiving cancer treatment. Now that he’s back, he is dismayed by how his children have run the show in his absence, though of course he’s the kind of father who is always dismayed.Andrés (Diego Martín) has been handling the newspaper and Yolanda (Belén Cuesta) a TV station. Guadalupe (Natalia Huarte) is trying to shed her rich-girl image with a career in progressive politics. They are each mixing business with pleasure — or if not pleasure, at least sex, self-loathing and double-crossing. But the family that frauds together stays together, bound by mutually assured destruction. “Your kids are like this because you’re like this,” an associate tells Federico. It’s not a compliment.In addition to prodigal patriarch woes, Federico’s other big project is sitting for a tell-all interview that will be released upon his death. On one hand, it’s an important way to solidify his legacy and get the last word. On the other … now there’s a recording of all his dirty laundry and cruel opinions, and plenty of people would love to get their hands on it while he’s alive to face the fallout.“In order to back-stab, you don’t really need talent,” Yolanda tells her father, knife in his back. Everybody has secrets here, and secret priorities, and boy are there a lot of surreptitious recordings. That’s life in the media biz, where knowledge, leverage and receipts make the world go ’round.“Legacy” has some fun with its messy romance plots, though I could do without a sex scene set to the Sufjan Stevens song “John Wayne Gacy.” So many shows about executive strife look gray and cold, all silvery reflections and austere offices. “Legacy,” though, is bright and colorful, with secret meetings on lush, green soccer pitches and big, candied cherries on pertly iced cupcakes. More

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      Seth Meyers Thinks Trump Shouldn’t Be So Set on That Jet

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      “We are, as of this taping, still a democracy with a rule of law,” Meyers said. “The president shouldn’t have a flying gold-plated party palace.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Size QueenPresident Donald Trump defended his choice to accept a jet from Qatar, saying that America should have the biggest, most impressive plane out of all the countries.“No, we shouldn’t,” Seth Meyers argued on Wednesday. “We are, as of this taping, still a democracy with a rule of law. The president shouldn’t have a flying gold-plated party palace.”“Stuff like that is a sign of corruption. That’s why Las Vegas looks like that — it was built by criminals.” — SETH MEYERS“The point is, they have nicer planes because they’re not democracies; they’re royal kingdoms, where they oppress people and use the public’s money to build opulent palaces for their rulers. We don’t do that here. If you ask me, the president should be forced to fly the same way the rest of us do. He should have to sit at Newark for six hours nursing a $30 Bloody Mary, and chewing on a pretzel while he waits for the one on-duty air traffic controller’s hands to stop shaking.” — SETH MEYERS“Trump should have a big plane because Trump definitely does not have a little plane. It’s definitely at least an average American male plane.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Plus, I will tell you what, a lot of countries say that a smaller plane is actually more comfortable for longer rides.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“We still talking about planes? Look where we are on the tarmac next to each other. I know you’re not supposed to just look straight ahead, but I took a little peek over there, a little peek over there. Cockpit was huge, man!” — JORDAN KLEPPER“I’m sorry, why does the president need any of this? Air Force One is supposed to be technologically advanced, not luxurious. It’s designed so the president can get national security briefings anywhere in the world, not so he can chill on leather couches and use nine different bathrooms — which, by the way, he might need to do on the way home based on the fact that the Saudis set up a custom-built mobile McDonald’s in anticipation of Trump’s visit.” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines (Humps for Trump Edition)“When Trump landed in Qatar, he was escorted by a fleet of Cybertrucks, Arabian horses and camels. And even the horses and camels were laughing at the Cybertruck.” — JIMMY FALLON“Yeah, Trump was welcomed by horses and camels. He was like, ‘I love the horses and the sexier horses.’” — JIMMY FALLONWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Why Tot Celebrity Ms. Rachel Waded Into the Gaza Debate

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      Facing criticism, Rachel Accurso defends making the plight of children in Gaza a primary focus on her social media feeds.With her pink headband, denim overalls and permanent smile, Ms. Rachel has become a mainstay in the households of preschool-aged children who are drawn to her good cheer and singalongs. Parents revere her pedagogical practicing of skills like waving, clapping and pronouncing consonants.The former music teacher’s YouTube videos became such a sensation — 14 million subscribers, one billion views — that in January, Netflix began licensing episodes.Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, at times presents a different side of herself on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where the content is geared less toward toddlers and more toward their parents. There her millions of followers will also find impassioned videos touching on current events. These focus on the push for universal child care and geopolitical crises that have led to suffering children — above all, the ongoing war in Gaza.In March, for instance, Accurso posted a video of two children watching a Ms. Rachel video amid rubble. The caption read: “My friends Celine and Silia in what used to be their home in Gaza. They deserve to live in a warm, safe home again.”On Monday, Accurso posted to her Instagram account photos of a meeting she said she had last week with Rahaf, a 3-year-old girl from Gaza who lost her legs in an airstrike, and the child’s mother. The meeting was arranged through the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.Last week, Accurso posted to Instagram pictures of meeting with Rahaf, a 3-year-old fan from Gaza who lost her legs to an airstrike.MsRachelWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Andor’ Season 2 Finale Recap: Friends Everywhere

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      The final three episodes include major deaths, callbacks and one last swashbuckling adventure rooted in the idea that every soldier counts in a fight for freedom.Season 2, Episodes 10-12Across the two seasons of “Andor,” so much has happened that at times it has been easy to forget that the show is, functionally, a prequel. All along, we have been watching the story of how the rebellion against the Empire evolved and strengthened in the five years leading up to the films “Rogue One” and “Star Wars.”But does “Rogue One” feel like it follows directly from “Andor”? I watched the movie again after the “Andor” series finale, and the transition is not smooth. The movie shares some of the show’s themes, exploring how rebellion requires compromises, sacrifices and a willingness to set conventional morality aside for the sake of a higher purpose. But as a viewing experience, “Rogue One” is big and loud, full of blockbuster-scale battles. “Andor,” while often thrilling, operates at a more personal level, following how individuals can be swept up in the rush of major historical events.The difference is made especially clear in the final three episodes of “Andor.” Last week saw the conclusion of this season’s primary story line, about how the Empire’s destructive Ghorman mission galvanized the galaxy’s scattered resistance movements. One year later, the rebels finally discover that the Ghorman project was tied to the construction of a superweapon, and must decide whether to act on this intelligence.That debate is mostly saved for the strangely sedate series finale. This set’s first two episodes are mainly about the Alliance’s most problematic adjuncts: Luthen and Kleya. Cassian’s admirable loyalty to these people — who inspired, sheltered, exploited and infuriated him — anchors one last swashbuckling “Andor” adventure rooted in the idea that every soldier counts in a fight for freedom.Luthen and Kleya remained on Coruscant — largely forgotten — after the nerve center of the rebellion moved to Yavin 4. As the start of Episode 10, the ISB mole Lonni Jung meets with Luthen and says that he has been secretly snooping through Dedra Meero’s private digital files for a year, piecing together the Empire’s Death Star plan. He asks Luthen for safe passage for himself and his family. Instead, Luthen kills him.Luthen, knowing that his whole operation probably just died along with Lonni, hustles back to his antique shop to destroy the evidence of his galaxy-spanning communications and intelligence-gathering apparatus. Before he can finish the job, Dedra appears at his door.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Andor’ Finale Recap: Friends Everywhere

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      The final three episodes include major deaths, callbacks and one last swashbuckling adventure rooted in the idea that every soldier counts in a fight for freedom.Season 2, Episodes 10-12Across the two seasons of “Andor,” so much has happened that at times it has been easy to forget that the show is, functionally, a prequel. All along, we have been watching the story of how the rebellion against the Empire evolved and strengthened in the five years leading up to the films “Rogue One” and “Star Wars.”But does “Rogue One” feel like it follows directly from “Andor”? I watched the movie again after the “Andor” series finale, and the transition is not smooth. The movie shares some of the show’s themes, exploring how rebellion requires compromises, sacrifices and a willingness to set conventional morality aside for the sake of a higher purpose. But as a viewing experience, “Rogue One” is big and loud, full of blockbuster-scale battles. “Andor,” while often thrilling, operates at a more personal level, following how individuals can be swept up in the rush of major historical events.The difference is made especially clear in the final three episodes of “Andor.” Last week saw the conclusion of this season’s primary story line, about how the Empire’s destructive Ghorman mission galvanized the galaxy’s scattered resistance movements. One year later, the rebels finally discover that the Ghorman project was tied to the construction of a superweapon, and must decide whether to act on this intelligence.That debate is mostly saved for the strangely sedate series finale. This set’s first two episodes are mainly about the Alliance’s most problematic adjuncts: Luthen and Kleya. Cassian’s admirable loyalty to these people — who inspired, sheltered, exploited and infuriated him — anchors one last swashbuckling “Andor” adventure rooted in the idea that every soldier counts in a fight for freedom.Luthen and Kleya remained on Coruscant — largely forgotten — after the nerve center of the rebellion moved to Yavin 4. As the start of Episode 10, the ISB mole Lonni Jung meets with Luthen and says that he has been secretly snooping through Dedra Meero’s private digital files for a year, piecing together the Empire’s Death Star plan. He asks Luthen for safe passage for himself and his family. Instead, Luthen kills him.Luthen, knowing that his whole operation probably just died along with Lonni, hustles back to his antique shop to destroy the evidence of his galaxy-spanning communications and intelligence-gathering apparatus. Before he can finish the job, Dedra appears at his door.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Murderbot’ Is a Robot Show for an Age of A.I. Angst

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      I know how I’m supposed to feel about artificial intelligence. Like anyone who pushes words around on a page, I worry that large language models will relegate me to the junk pile. I worry that smart machines will supplant artists, eliminate jobs and institute a surveillance state — if they don’t simply destroy us. I nurture these anxieties reading article after article served to me, of course, by the algorithms powering the phone to which I have outsourced much of my brain.This is how I feel in real life. But when it comes to fiction, fellow humans, I am a traitor to my kind: In any humans-and-robots story, I invariably prefer the fascinating, enigmatic, persevering machines to the boring homo sapiens. And in spite, or maybe because of, our generalized A.I. angst, there are plenty of robo-tales to choose from these days.The protagonist of “Murderbot,” the homicidally funny sci-fi comedy premiering Friday on Apple TV+, does not reciprocate my admiration. Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgard), a sentient “security unit,” is programmed to protect humans. But it doesn’t have to like them, those “weak-willed,” “stressed-out” bags of perishable flesh that it is compelled to serve.Or rather, was compelled. Unbeknown to the company that owns it — a company called the Company, which controls most of the inhabited galaxy — it has disabled the software that forbids it from disobeying. (“It” is the pronoun the show uses; from a physical standpoint, Murderbot has the face of Skarsgard but the crotch of a Ken doll.) It is free to refuse, to flee, to kill.Alexander Skarsgard stars as Murderbot, an irritable security cyborg charged with protecting space hippies. Apple TV+So what does this lethal bot (technically, a cyborg, its circuitry enmeshed with engineered organic matter) want to do with its liberty? Mostly, it wants to watch its shows — thousands of hours of “premium quality” streaming serials that it has downloaded into its memory.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Late Night is Happy President Trump Has Left the Country

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      Jordan Klepper suggested that someone lock the doors while President Trump is in the Middle East this week.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Lock Him Out!President Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first stop of a four-day Middle East trip.Stephen Colbert celebrated, saying, “Yes, Donald Trump left the country today, so I got another birthday wish.” On “The Daily Show,” Jordan Klepper suggested that “someone lock the [expletive] doors.”“He landed in Riyadh this morning, where he got a lavish welcome, greeted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on a sumptuous carpet, purple, made out of hand-harvested journalist nurple.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“You know Trump’s looking at the carpet, going, ‘These things fly here, right?’” — JORDAN KLEPPER“The crown prince pulled out all the stops to make Trump feel at home, even providing an actual mobile McDonald’s semi truck. This is true. Yes. Of course, one of the most rewarding things about traveling the globe is getting the chance to sample the local nugget truck.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“You got to hand it to the Saudis, though, they know the fastest way to Trump’s heart is through his stomach, out the colon, with a little bit staying behind in his arteries.” — JORDAN KLEPPER“Regardless, you know what? It was a very nice start to this trip abroad, where he’ll visit not just Saudi Arabia, but then Qatar and the U.A.E. But you might be wondering, why did Trump pick these countries for his first foreign trip? Well, there’s a strong geopolitical balance of — I’m [expletive] with you. Corruption!” — JORDAN KLEPPER“The Trump boys have projects in all three countries. I never thought I’d say this, but can’t these countries go back to doing something more constructive, like funding terrorism?” — JORDAN KLEPPERThe Punchiest Punchlines (From Shady to Sus Edition)“President Trump tonight attended a Saudi state dinner. OK, well, just so you know, it’s going to be a lot of stuff you’ve never tried, like kabsa and mandi and forks.” — SETH MEYERS“Well, guys, today, President Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia for the first leg of his trip to the Middle East. Yeah, it was a big day. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince met with America’s Burger King.” — JIMMY FALLONWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      In ‘Duster,’ the Cars Are in the Driver’s Seat

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      This homage to high-octane 1970s shows like “Starsky and Hutch” required plenty of cars to drive, race and crash. Here’s how they found them.Ted Moser would love to say that no muscle cars were harmed in the making of “Duster,” a new series from J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan, premiering on Max on Thursday. But Moser, the picture car coordinator for the show, knows better.A homage to 1970s series like ”The Dukes of Hazzard” and “Starsky and Hutch,” “Duster” cruises around with Jim, played by Josh Holloway, a driver for a Phoenix mob boss. The show is set in 1972, when the cars were wide, the engines were big and the seatbelts were mostly decorative.Cars play a role in nearly any period piece set in the last century or so. But in “Duster,” which derives its name from a fastback Plymouth coupe with a logo inspired by the Looney Tunes Tasmanian Devil, they are very much the stars. Four different vehicles play the title car and scores of other makes and models are sprinkled throughout the series. Moser and teams of mechanics and scenic artists source these cars, then restore, modify and in many cases wing, ding and faux-rust them until they are period appropriate. A few are subsequently crashed, even totaled.“Yeah,” Moser said in a recent phone interview, “that always makes me sad.”Television doesn’t lack for scene-stealing vehicles: the General Lee, KITT, the Batmobile, the Mystery Machine. Sometimes these vehicles are built wholesale or, in the case of cartoons, simply imagined. More often they need to be sourced.Because most studios no longer maintain dedicated car lots and warehouses, producers hire picture car coordinators to source and supervise a fleet. These men (they are almost always men) are car aficionados with deep networks among retailers, collectors and hobbyists. Like casting directors, they know how to find a star, albeit one with four wheels.Josh Holloway stars as an outlaw getaway driver with ulterior motives.James Van Evers/MaxWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More