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      A Century of the BBC, a ‘Quasi-Mystical’ Part of England’s Psyche

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      David Hendy’s “The BBC” looks back at 100 years of wartime reporting, dramas, satires and weather reports.THE BBCA Century on AirBy David HendyIllustrated. 638 pages. PublicAffairs. $38.The British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC — the Beeb — turns 100 this year. “Hullo, hullo, 2LO calling, 2LO calling,” a few thousand listeners heard through the hissing ether at 6 p.m. on Nov. 14, 1922. “This is the British Broadcasting Company. 2LO. Stand by for one minute please!” What followed were short news and weather bulletins, read twice, the second time slowly so that listeners could take notes.David Hendy, in his thorough and engaging new book, “The BBC: A Century on Air,” writes that you can’t understand England without understanding the BBC. It occupies, he says, “a quasi-mystical place in the national psyche.” It’s just there, like the white cliffs of Dover.The BBC sparked to life in the wake of World War I. Its founders included wounded veterans, and they were idealists. Civilization was in tatters; they hoped, through a new medium, to forge a common culture by giving listeners not necessarily what they wanted, but what they needed, to hear.The audience was fed a fibrous diet of plays and concerts and talks and lectures; sports included Derby Day and Wimbledon. Announcers wore dinner jackets as well as their plummy accents, “as a courtesy to the live performers with whom they would be consorting.” Catching the chimes of Big Ben before the evening news became a ritual for millions.Equipment was primitive. A framed notice by the microphone warned guest speakers, “If you sneeze or rustle papers you will DEAFEN THOUSANDS!!!”Radio was new; the BBC felt that it had to teach people how to listen. “To keep your mind from wandering,” it advised, “you might wish to turn the lights out, or settle into your favorite armchair five minutes before the program starts; above all, you should remember that ‘If you only listen with half an ear, you haven’t a quarter of a right to criticize.’”The BBC gained a reputation for being a bit snooty, and soporific. One complaint can stand for many: “People do not want three hours of [expletive] ‘King Lear’ in verse when they get out of a 10-hour day in the [expletive] coal-pits, and [expletive] anybody who tries to tell them that they do.”The BBC took it from both sides. To mandarins like Virginia Woolf, it was irredeemably middlebrow; she referred to it as the “Betwixt and Between Company.” The BBC loosened up over time and took increasing account of working-class and minority audiences, and of audiences who simply wanted to laugh.The broadcaster was created by a Royal Charter; it has never been government-run, yet it must answer to government. Hendy recounts attempts to limit its editorial independence. Churchill and Thatcher were especially vocal critics: They felt there was something a bit pinko about the whole enterprise.The BBC’s scrupulous reporting during World War II gave it lasting prestige across the world. It largely lived up to the motto of R.T. Clark, its senior news editor: to tell “the truth and nothing but the truth, even if the truth is horrible.”During wartime, the company occasionally broadcast from a safer perch. When announcers intoned “This is London,” with British phlegm, they were often in a countryside manor. The London headquarters took a direct hit from a bomb in October 1940; the reader of the evening news “paused for a split second to blow the plaster and soot off the script in front of him before carrying on with the rest of the bulletin.” Seven people were killed in the attack. After the war, the BBC’s foreign services became a prop to the Commonwealth, the new euphemism for “empire.”One of this book’s best set pieces is of the BBC’s wall-to-wall televised coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. One reporter referred to it as “C-Day.” This sort of thing had never been on TV before. The hard part, Hendy writes, was “persuading royal officials that mere subjects had a right to witness the ceremony in the first place.”Over time the BBC’s tentacles grew longer and more varied: Clusters of radio and television stations catered to different demographics. Competitors crept in.The satire boom of the postwar era arrived, led by “The Goon Show,” which ran from 1951 to 1960. There were TV dramas from iconic talents like Ken Loach and Dennis Potter. The BBC began to take the critic Clive James’s advice: “Anemic high art is less worth having than low art with guts.”From left, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan, members of “The Goon Show,” which aired on the BBC from 1951 to 1960.Mirrorpix via Getty ImagesLanguage battles fought at the company are never dull to read about. For decades, “bloody” could be used only rarely and “bugger” not at all. One internal stylebook, Hendy writes, “included a ban on jokes about lavatories or ‘effeminacy in men’ as well as any ‘suggestive references’ to subjects such as ‘Honeymoon Couples, Chambermaids, Fig leaves, Prostitution, Ladies’ underwear, e.g. winter draws on, Animal habits, e.g. rabbits, Lodgers, Commercial travelers.”The eclectic and influential disc jockey John Peel was brought in; so, alas, was the cigar-chomping comic Jimmy Savile, the zany-uncle host of shows like “Top of the Pops,” who was found after his death in 2011 to have molested dozens if not hundreds of children across five decades. An inquiry found that the BBC did not do nearly enough to stop him.The BBC’s nature documentaries were pathbreaking, and big hits. (They left James “slack-jawed with wonder and respect.”) Hendy walks us through how, under David Attenborough, these things got made. They take years, enormous staffs and a global network of freelancers willing to sit out in the cold and rain to get the money shots.Attenborough was told, early on, that he couldn’t appear onscreen because his teeth were too big. Richard Dawkins has written, in his memoirs, about how difficult it is to talk while walking backward, a crucial skill for any BBC documentary host.More recent BBC hits include the reality series “Strictly Come Dancing,” the brainy documentaries of Louis Theroux and the comedy-drama series “I May Destroy You.”The right has retained its distrust of the BBC, including up-to-date complaints about wokeness; it would like to see it become smaller and more “distinctive,” in the manner of PBS and NPR. These American stations have had nothing like the BBC’s cultural impact — though Greg Jackson, in his story collection “Prodigals,” was correct to refer to Terry Gross as the “Catcher in the WHYY.”Hendy can be critical of the company, but at heart he’s a fan. He reports that across any given week, more than 91 percent of British households use one BBC service or another. He cites academic surveys showing that the broadcaster’s news output is, if anything, tilted slightly to the right.The BBC can still be snoozy. I’m not the only person I know who, at least before Putin rattled the world’s cage, listened to the BBC World Service app at bedtime because it’s an aural sleeping pill.I deserve to lose style points for borrowing Hendy’s last lines for my own, but he puts it simply about the BBC’s precarious position: “We sometimes never know just how much we need or want something until it is gone.” More

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      What’s on TV This Week: A Pair of New Docs, and ‘Killing Eve’

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      Major documentaries about Benjamin Franklin and Tony Hawk are on PBS and HBO. And “Killing Eve” airs its final episode.Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, April 4-10. Details and times are subject to change.MondayBENJAMIN FRANKLIN 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). In the last half-century, Ken Burns has become among the most prominent chroniclers of American history — so maybe it was only a matter of time before his attention panned to Ben Franklin. This two-part, four-hour documentary from Burns looks at Franklin’s life and legacy. The first installment, subtitled “Join or Die,” focuses on the years of 1706 to 1774. Part 2, “An American,” covers 1775 through 1790, the year of Franklin’s death; it will air at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.JOHN AND THE HOLE (2021) 8 p.m. on Showtime Showcase. Michael C. Hall is probably best known for starring in the serial-killer drama “Dexter,” which was revived last year. But in the eerie, surreal drama “John and the Hole,” it is Hall’s character who gets put in the ground. He plays the father of John (Charlie Shotwell), a 13-year-old who traps his family in a large hole in the forest. (John’s mother is played by Jennifer Ehle; Taissa Farmiga plays John’s older sister.) In her review for The New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis praised the “excellent” cast, but wrote that the underlying ideas of the story aren’t given the same attention as the eerie atmosphere. “Chilly, enigmatic and more than a little spooky, ‘John and the Hole’ patrols the porous border between child and adult with more style than depth,” she wrote.TuesdayTony Hawk in a scene from “Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off.”HBO Documentary FilmsTONY HAWK: UNTIL THE WHEELS FALL OFF (2022) 9 p.m. HBO. At the Academy Awards, Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater and Shaun White introduced a tribute to 60 years of James Bond movies by saying that no one Bond actor could possibly be considered the greatest of all time, before reconsidering. Hawk said: “Well, I don’t know about that,” there are a few athletes who you know are clearly the greatest in their field.” That the line got a laugh — more than two decades after Hawk made history by landing the aerial trick known as the 900 at the 1999 X-Games — speaks to how much Hawk remains synonymous with professional skateboarding. This documentary from the photographer and director Sam Jones gives a deep look at Hawk’s life and career. It pays particular attention to the challenges that came with his fame.WednesdayTHE KARDASHIANS — A ROBIN ROBERTS SPECIAL 8 p.m. on ABC. The “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts takes a late shift for this prime-time interview with the famous sisters Kim, Khloé and Kourtney Kardashian and their mother, Kris Jenner.ThursdayDR. WHO AND THE DALEKS (1966) 10:15 p.m. on TCM. Here’s a curiosity: A vintage, noncanonical “Dr. Who” film with Peter Cushing in the title role. Shot in Technicolor by Amicus Productions, a British studio known for low-budget science fiction and horror movies, the movie imagines Dr. Who as an older human scientist who, in his efforts to invent a time machine, accidentally transports himself and a few companions (including two granddaughters) to another planet, where they get mixed up in a battle of good versus evil.FridayA BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW 11 p.m. on HBO. Puppets, cannibalism and a “funeral ball” with a dance floor are some of the things teased in a recent trailer for the new, third season of Robin Thede’s successful sketch comedy show, which debuts Friday. Like the previous two seasons, Season 3 has a stacked lineup of guests, including Wanda Sykes, Jay Pharoah and Ava DuVernay.SaturdayJoaquin Phoenix and Woody Norman in “C’Mon C’Mon.”A24 FilmsC’MON C’MON (2021) 8 p.m. on Showtime 2. Joaquin Phoenix plays an uncle who steps in to parent his nephew in this black-and-white drama from Mike Mills (“20th Century Women”). Johnny (Phoenix) is a single radio journalist with no children. When his sister, Viv (Gaby Hoffmann), asks him to take care of her 9-year-old, Jesse (Woody Norman), so she can deal with a family crisis, Johnny takes Jesse on a cross-country road trip. In her review for The Times, Manohla Dargis wrote that the movie can’t quite carry the emotional weight that it tries to, but she praised Mills’s ability to create believable, recognizable people and places. “Although he always lavishes conspicuous attention on the visual scheme of his movies — everything is very precise, very arranged — his gift is for the seductive sense of intimacy among characters,” she wrote, “which quickly turns actors into people you care about.”SundaySandra Oh, left, and Jodie Comer in “Killing Eve.”Anika Molnar/BBC AmericaKILLING EVE 8 p.m. on BBC America. The fourth and final season of this dark and funny spy thriller ends on Sunday night, bringing to a close the layered relationship between the former MI6 agent Eve (Sandra Oh) and the assassin she has long pined for, Villanelle (Jodie Comer). When Oh and Comer spoke to The Times recently, they naturally had only vague discussions about the ending (“we were together on set,” Comer said), but went deeper in their discussion of the relationship between Eve and Villanelle — which is itself ambiguous. “A lot of people describe this as a ‘cat and mouse,’ and I understand that within the first season,” Oh said. But, she added, “for me, the show is really exploring the female psyche and how these two female characters need one another.”ROADRUNNER: A FILM ABOUT ANTHONY BOURDAIN (2021) 9 p.m. on CNN. The documentarian Morgan Neville (“Won’t You Be My Neighbor”) looks at the life, career and death of Anthony Bourdain, the chef turned writer and TV host. The movie presents two overlapping sides of Bourdain: It celebrates his idiosyncratic energy, curiosity and charisma while also examining the struggles that led to his death by suicide in 2018. “In many ways, his strengths were his weaknesses, too,” Neville said in a 2021 interview with The Times. “His deep romanticism, his wanderlust, his profound curiosity and seeking, were his strengths, but also things that really kept him unrooted and unable to kind of sit back and enjoy things.” More

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      ‘Billions’ Season 6, Episode 11: I Like Mike

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      Prince’s grand plan is revealed. Chuck is less than impressed.Season 6, Episode 11: ‘Succession’“Michael [expletive] Prince is running for president.”There you have it, as summed up by Chuck with all his usual verbal panache. After a season of oblique references and sotto voce hints, Mike Prince’s grand plan beyond all his other grand plans is revealed, with a bumper sticker reading “I LIKE MIKE 2028.” Behind the seizure of Axe Cap, behind the creation of the Prince List, behind the moonshot play for a New York Olympic Games, behind this episode’s introduction of universal basic income in the form of Prince-funded “Mike money,” behind every hard-to-parse interaction with his right-hand man, Scooter, and his wife, Andy, there it is. Mike Prince, billionaire, wants to become Mike Prince, president of the United States of America.You can all but feel the shock waves roll through the characters who wise up to this plan in real time. For starters, there’s Wags, who brought Prince a plum deal with the Chinese government only to watch the bossman blow it up as publicly as possible over human rights violations, and who wonders why Prince would offer a job to Chuck Rhoades, of all people. The move against China is an attempt to carve a path as an ethical billionaire; the job offer is an attempt to take an enemy off the board for good.Then there’s Taylor and Philip, the characters who theoretically give this episode, “Succession,” its title. (I’m inclined to believe it’s a cheeky reference to television’s other tale of the lifestyles of the rich and shameless; it’s a bit like that meme of the two Spider-Men pointing at each other.) They spend most of the episode jockeying for position as Prince’s heir apparent, although neither can quite fathom why he has chosen to name a successor at all.Taylor’s pitch involves the proverbial “move fast and break things” approach. Philip’s approach is more methodical. But when the dust settles, both of these wunderkinds realize they’re better off presenting themselves as a team of two, in which the strengths of one complement those of the other. This seems to free up space in their brains to finally puzzle out the why of Prince’s maneuver, and that why comes emblazoned with the presidential seal.Finally, there’s Chuck and Dave. Rhoades has set up shop in an old office straight out of “Mad Men” — complete with an aging secretary rumored to be one of the boss’s sexual conquests — maintained by his father for tax purposes. It is here that he is ensconced when his latest move against Prince — a digital billboard outside Prince’s home that gives a running tab of his personal fortune — becomes a viral sensation. It is here where Scooter and Kate Sacker come to encourage Chuck to join Prince’s team, an offer he predictably declines.When Prince’s “Mike money” plan is rolled out, ostensibly with the Brooklyn borough president (played by Joanna P. Adler) on board, Chuck encourages Dave to pull the plug by reclaiming all the land Prince bought in service of his Olympic bid, on the grounds that with the Games no longer in play, he is violating the compact under which he purchased the parcels.It ought to be a kill shot since Prince had been counting on leveraging the land and a private-public partnership to bankroll his universal basic income scheme. But Prince then makes the very un-billionaire move of promising to fully fund the “Mike money” initiative himself. When Dave and Chuck put their heads together to puzzle out why he would go out so far on a limb, there is only one conclusion they can draw, and it comes soundtracked by “Hail to the Chief.”Running parallel to all of this is the surprise story line to which we were introduced last week: Wendy Rhoades’s book. Turns out it’s a nonfiction effort of sorts: “Rewards of the Ruthless: How I Make Wall Street Killers,” a chronicle of her tenure as Axe/Prince Cap’s performance coach. The book includes very thinly disguised versions of all your favorite traders, from the timid Tom (a Tuk analogue) to the hard-charging Lance (Victor all the way).Wendy attempts to soften the blow of the book’s existence by giving pretty much everyone an advance copy so they can weigh in on their own portrayals. The idea is to involve them as, essentially, co-conspirators instead of springing the book on them after the fact — effectively daring them into libel lawsuits.But Wendy ultimately puts the kibosh on the book herself, burning it up with her Buddhist priest by her side. She realizes this wasn’t an attempt to vent her bile but to service her ego. “In the end,” she says, “it’s a ride that only leads to needing more, which is exactly what I don’t need.” If only any other character on this show would realize the same.Loose change:To the usual “Billions” soundtrack staples — your Bruce Springsteen’s “Badlands” and so forth — this episode adds the playfully raunchy tune “Chaise Longue” by the British indie-rock darlings Wet Leg. Crank it up, folks.“A man in your position can’t afford to look ridiculous,” Wendy quotes at Ben Kim when he, Tuk and Bonnie angrily confront her about her book. “I wasn’t going to quote ‘Godfather’ at you,” Ben replies, but he has to admit that she’s right. Cue the Nino Rota.I don’t know about you, but Prince and Wags’s meeting with the Chinese officials was a little bit too “inscrutable foreign menace” for my taste. Don’t we have domestic menaces enough?Chuck refers to Prince as “Greg Stillson from ‘[The] Dead Zone,’” a reference to the Stephen King book in which a psychic sets out to stop a wildly dangerous presidential candidate by that name. Prince may be fictional, but take a look around the political landscape: Greg Stillsons are one thing this country still manages to produce in bumper crops.Am I the only person who wonders why Victor, Prince Cap’s most intimidating trader, is not in line for successor alongside Taylor and Philip? It’s weird to see him grouped alongside the likes of Ben Kim and Tuk instead of with the alphas.That said, I was pleased to see Sarah Stiles return as Bonnie, another Type A trader, when the crew confronts Wendy about her book. I’m still holding out hope she joins Mafee and Dollar Bill at their breakaway firm.The most prominent “appearing as himself” in this episode is the journalist John Heilemann, the star of Showtime’s “The Circus.” Here’s hoping for a “Dexter” crossover next time.Heilemann also earns this episode’s wrestling reference, in which Prince compares him to the chrome-domed monster George Steele, known also as the Animal. Sadly, Heilemann does not seem to have a green tongue from eating turnbuckle padding the way the Animal did.Prince’s aversion to obscenity is so pronounced in this episode — his exclamations include “Dang it!” and “Mother husker!” — that when he refers to Chuck as “that son of a [expletive]” in the end, it has a real impact. Will this stop me, personally, from dropping f-bombs in polite conversation all the time? Probably not, but it’s something to reflect on. More

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      ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Recap: Neither Seen Nor Heard

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      This week, “Picard” increases the stakes with unpredictable villains and ancestors with a lot to lose.Season 2, Episode 5: ‘Fly Me to the Moon’OK, kids: The word of the day in this week’s “Picard” is Ancestor.The newly discovered lineages of some very famous “Trek” figures are figuring into the plot more frequently as this season progresses, which is not too dissimilar from what happened last season. This has been a running theme of the show — an in-depth exploration of how our histories, both personal and political, shape the world we live in.The Watcher — who looks like Laris but isn’t? — reveals that Renée Picard, Jean-Luc’s ancestor, is about to take off for a seminal spaceflight — the Europa mission — which leads indirectly to the first encounter with an alien organism and the Federation as we’ve come to know it. (Is it just me or is this pretty much the plot of “Star Trek: First Contact?” If so, you’d think Picard would mention his previous experience going back in time to deal with a similar thing.) The Watcher is a Guardian of the Galaxy type, and simultaneously a Supervisor, a reference to the original series episode, “Assignment: Earth,” another classic time travel story.Something else goes unmentioned: Picard had a young nephew, René, who dies in “Star Trek: Generations.” Presumably, he was named after Renée.Picard is informed by The Watcher that she “watches” Renée but is never seen. (An alumnus of Milford Academy, it appears.) She’s also responsible for protecting the tapestry of the universe, but somehow doesn’t actually make contact with her or seemingly anyone else. (So what would you say you do here?) She creepily keeps track of Renée’s therapy sessions and it’s revealed that her therapist is Q — with a German accent! (Some Watcher we have here. So good at watching and doesn’t realize something is off with the doctor.)To be honest, it was a bit off-putting watching Picard and the crew plot out how to keep Renée’s anxiety in check so she can make the Europa flight. She really seems to be anxious to the point that it’s not safe for her to take off. So why is it assumed that Q is in the wrong to tell her she shouldn’t do it? How is Jean-Luc qualified to comment on Renée’s mental health one way or another?We meet another Soong played by Brent Spiner. Spiner is an actor with limitless range — that he plays another one of Data’s ancestors with a new twist is impressive. Here, Dr. Soong is a geneticist with a dying daughter. He’s running unmonitored, illegal genetic experiments on soldiers in an effort to save his daughter, who cannot encounter sunlight. The daughter appears to be whom Soji and Dahj were created after. This was a nice touch to bring Isa Briones back into the fold. It’s easy to imagine a world in which Data finds an ancient Soong to model his daughters after.(Side note: The Soong appears to be the father of Arik Soong, whom we meet in “Star Trek: Enterprise.” If this episode is any indication, this will begin generations of problematic genetic engineering done by Soongs.)But what’s Q’s aim? This has been a lingering question all season. Here, he seeks out this Soong to present him with a cure for his daughter. In return, he wants Soong to help him get rid of Picard. This seems like an odd approach. Even though Q’s powers appear limited, he’s still strong enough to change entire timelines. So logically, he shouldn’t need a human like Soong to achieve his aims, unless they are completely unexpected. The Watcher brings this up herself and Picard doesn’t have an answer.Here’s a thought: What if the 2024 event that changes the timeline isn’t Renée’s flight, but rather Q giving this Soong a genetic cure which didn’t previously exist?We also check in on Operation Rescue Rios, where Rios is on a detention bus primed to be rescued by Seven and Raffi. Seven remarks, “If we beam him out in front of a dozen eyewitnesses, who knows what effect teleportation might have on the 21st century?”Raffi’s aghast reaction was the same as mine: “Time travel rules?!”Time travel episodes in “Trek” always involve a character randomly moralizing about the effects on the timeline. But such concerns feel a bit out of character for the Seven we’ve come to know in “Picard.” She’s a rogue bounty hunter type. Raffi is the Starfleet officer — she’s the one who should care about the temporal prime directive, an actual Starfleet policy. (Honestly, just by transporting to the 21st century, they’ve changed the timeline. And Raffi already recklessly shot off a phaser in the last episode, so that horse has left the barn.)Ultimately, Seven presses a button on a tricorder which causes the bus holding Rios to come to a stop. Somehow, this doesn’t violate Seven’s standards for impacting the 21st century, but let’s move on. Rios is rescued, and our brief look at the inhumane immigration system has come to an end.It’s still unclear exactly what the Borg Queen’s plan is, though it seems to involve taking on Jurati as a partner, similar to what she tried to do with Data in “First Contact.” Like Q, the Queen is totally unpredictable, which means Picard is fighting a battle on multiple fronts. All we know is that she wants to resurrect the Borg as a force. The reveal at the end, that Jurati has been kind of, sort of assimilated was a solid punch to end the week.This season has spent way more time in 2024 than one might expect, which gives the show less of a science fiction feel. Even so, there is enough material and enough quality performances to keep the season compelling. More

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      Will Smith Resigns From Academy After Slapping Chris Rock at Oscars

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      The producer of the telecast said that Smith had been asked to leave after slapping Rock, and that he had urged officials not to “physically remove” him. LOS ANGELES — Will Smith, who slapped the comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars, said Friday that he was resigning from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, saying that he had “betrayed” its trust with conduct that was “shocking, painful, and inexcusable.”The sudden announcement came late Friday afternoon, days after the Academy had condemned Mr. Smith’s actions and opened an inquiry into the incident. “I have directly responded to the Academy’s disciplinary hearing notice, and I will fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct,” he said in a statement on Friday. “I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work,” he said in the statement. “I am heartbroken.”He said that he would “accept any further consequences the board deems appropriate.”“Change takes time,” he concluded, “and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason.”The academy said that it accepted his resignation. “We have received and accepted Mr. Will Smith’s immediate resignation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,” David Rubin, its president, said in a statement. “We will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18.”Now that he has resigned, Mr. Smith will no longer have access to academy screenings and events. He will also not be able to vote in the Academy Awards. However, he could still be nominated for an award, since being a member is not a requirement for eligibility. Mr. Smith’s resignation came roughly 12 hours after Will Packer, the lead producer of the Oscars telecast, spoke publicly about the episode for the first time. In an interview with Good Morning America” on ABC, the network which also broadcasts the Oscars, Mr. Packer said that after Mr. Smith had been asked to leave the ceremony, he urged the Academy leadership not to “physically remove” him from the theater in the middle of the live broadcast.Mr. Packer said he had learned from his co-producer, Shayla Cowan, that there were discussions of plans to “physically remove” Mr. Smith from the venue. So he said he immediately approached academy officials and told them that he believed Mr. Rock did not want to “make a bad situation worse.”The Altercation Between Will Smith and Chris RockThe Incident: The Oscars were derailed when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, who made a joke about Mr. Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.His Speech: Moments after the onstage altercation, Mr. Smith won the Oscar for best actor. Here’s what he said in his acceptance speech.The Aftermath: Mr. Smith, who the academy said refused to leave following the incident, apologized to Mr. Rock the next day after the academy denounced his actions.A Triumph Tempered: Mr. Smith owned Serena and Venus Williams’s story in “King Richard.” Then he stole their moment at the Oscars.What Is Alopecia?: Ms. Smith’s hair loss condition played a major role in the incident.“I was advocating what Rock wanted in that time, which was not to physically remove Will Smith at that time,” Mr. Packer said. “Because as it has now been explained to me, that was the only option at that point. It has been explained to me that there was a conversation that I was not a part of to ask him to voluntarily leave.”In the interview, Mr. Packer also said that Mr. Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair was unscripted “free-styling.”“He didn’t tell one of the planned jokes,” he said of Mr. Rock.Someone close to Mr. Rock who asked to speak anonymously because the Academy’s inquiry into the incident is ongoing said that Mr. Rock was never asked directly if he wanted Mr. Smith removed. Had he been asked, it was not clear how Mr. Rock would have responded, the person said. Mr. Rock was only asked if he wanted to press charges, and he said that he did not, the person said.Mr. Packer said that, like many viewers at home, he had originally thought the slap might be part of an unplanned comedic bit, and that he was not entirely sure until he spoke with Mr. Rock backstage that Mr. Smith had actually hit the comedian.“I just took a punch from Muhammad Ali,” Mr. Packer recalled Mr. Rock telling him.Mr. Packer said that Mr. Smith reached out and apologized to him the morning after the Oscars. And he praised Mr. Rock for having kept his cool. “Chris was keeping his head when everyone else was losing theirs,” he said.“I’ve never felt so immediately devastated,” Mr. Packer said of the incident.Asked if, after hearing Mr. Smith’s acceptance speech, he wished that the actor had left the ceremony, Mr. Packer said that he did, noting that Mr. Smith had not used his remarks to express real contrition and apologize to Mr. Rock.“If he wasn’t going to give that speech which made it truly better, then yes, yes,” Mr. Packer said when asked if he wished Mr. Smith had left the ceremony. “Because now you don’t have the optics of somebody who committed this act, didn’t nail it in terms of a conciliatory acceptance speech in that moment, who then continued to be in the room.”Mr. Smith did not apologize to Mr. Rock until Monday evening, after the Academy had condemned his actions and initiated disciplinary proceedings against him. Mr. Packer’s comments came after days of questions about why Mr. Smith had seemed to face no repercussions for striking a presenter on live television.The academy said in a statement earlier this week that Mr. Smith had been asked to leave the awards ceremony following the slap, but had remained. Then several publications questioned that account, citing anonymous sources, and reported that Mr. Packer had suggested he stay. Shortly after the ceremony ended Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement saying that the person who had been slapped had “declined to file a police report.”In the interview, Mr. Packer described his recollection of law enforcement’s involvement.“They were saying, this is battery, we will go get him,” Mr. Packer said in the interview. “We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges. We can arrest him.”“Chris was being very dismissive of those options,” Mr. Packer continued. “He was like, ‘No, I’m fine.’ He was like, ‘No, no, no.’”Both on Sunday night and in subsequent interviews this week, the Los Angeles police have maintained that Mr. Smith’s slap qualified as misdemeanor battery under California law — and that as a misdemeanor, officers cannot take action unless the victim in the case files charges, which Mr. Rock did not do.In an interview on Thursday, Deputy Chief Blake Chow, of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Bureau, described the department’s role in less dramatic terms. At the Oscars, police officers are primarily responsible for patrolling outside the Dolby Theater and the Academy hires a security company to handle issues inside the building, he said.On Sunday, one police captain was stationed backstage as a liaison, the deputy chief said. The police captain inside did not observe the slap himself; but he quickly became aware of it, the deputy chief added. The police captain made contact with a representative for Mr. Rock shortly after the comedian had finished presenting an award and had returned backstage with his team, Deputy Chief Chow said.The representative communicated “Chris Rock’s wishes” that he did not want to press charges or file a police report, the deputy chief said. “He didn’t want to do anything.”The police department was not asked to escort Mr. Smith out of the venue, and even if the police had been asked to do that, such a request would not have fallen within the department’s purview, the deputy chief said.Detectives followed up on Monday with Mr. Rock’s representatives to ensure that he still did not want to take action. He reaffirmed that he did not, the deputy chief said.Mr. Rock made his first public comments about the incident on Wednesday at a comedy show in Boston. “I’m still kind of processing what happened,” Mr. Rock said, while promising to discuss the episode in greater depth later. “It’ll be serious, it’ll be funny, but I’d love to — I’m going to tell some jokes.”After nominating only white actors and actresses for its awards in 2015, drawing widespread criticism, the academy did it again the next year — overlooking performances like the one Mr. Smith gave in “Concussion.” At the time, Ms. Pinkett Smith was outspoken about what many people saw as an urgent need for the academy to become more inclusive. Smith was less pointed in his criticism, but joined her in a boycott of the ceremony, drawing attention to the #OscarsSoWhite movement.Nicole Sperling More

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      The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to HBO, Hulu, Apple TV+ and More in April

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      Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to their libraries. Here are our picks for some of April’s most promising new titles.(Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)Rinko Kikuchi in “Tokyo Vice.”Eros Hoagland/HBO MaxNew to HBO Max‘Tokyo Vice’ Season 1Starts streaming: April 7This TV adaptation of the journalist Jake Adelstein’s memoir is a spiritual successor of the influential 1980s show “Miami Vice,” examining organized crime and its effect on a nation’s social order in the 1990s. Ansel Elgort plays Adelstein, who struggles to be accepted as an American working in the highly competitive Japanese newspaper business. He later gains respect when he begins investigating the Yakuza. Created by the Tony-winning playwright J.T. Rogers (best known for “Oslo”), “Tokyo Vice” explores the complexities of class and race in an era when Japanese business was booming and some of the people making money didn’t want anyone — and especially not some upstart foreigner — to look too closely at how and why.‘The Flight Attendant’ Season 2Starts streaming: April 21Although Season 1 of “The Flight Attendant” deftly — and thoroughly — adapted Chris Bohjalian’s thriller novel of the same name, the series was so well-received that it was bound to get a sequel. At the start of Season 2, the alcoholic flight attendant Cassie (played by Kaley Cuoco, also one of the show’s executive producers) has cleaned up her life after helping international law enforcement solve a murder for which she was once the prime suspect. In the new episodes, Cassie settles into her new part-time gig as a spy and gets caught up in another dangerous mystery. Much of the series’ terrific supporting casts returns, including Rosie Perez as Cassie’s friendly colleague and Zosia Mamet as her best pal.‘Barry’ Season 3Starts streaming: April 24After a three-year layoff, Bill Hader returns as the hit man and aspiring actor Barry Berkman in the dark comedy “Barry,” the series he cocreated with Alec Berg. Season 2 took chances with its story, playing up the inherent absurdity of a stoic killer getting in touch with his feelings in a drama class. Taking cues from classic modern TV crime dramas like “Breaking Bad,” Hader and Berg ratcheted up the tension as Barry ducked the mob, the law and a vengeful old associate played by Stephen Root. Season 3 will continue down that path, while also spoofing the pretensions of Hollywood wannabes, including the promising ingénue Sally (Sarah Goldberg) and the big-hearted acting coach Gene (Henry Winkler).‘We Own This City’Starts streaming: April 25The latest Baltimore-centered series from David Simon, creator of “The Wire,” is a collaboration with his frequent writing partner, the best-selling crime novelist George Pelecanos. Based on the crime reporter Justin Fenton’s nonfiction book of the same name, “We Own This City” stars Jon Bernthal as Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, who becomes involved with Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force, a well-meaning but ultimately corrupt organization that attempted to quell crime by tracking how gangs armed themselves. Set in the years immediately after the city’s police department came under increased scrutiny because of the death of Freddie Gray in its custody, “We Own This City” is a gritty drama about how some entrenched institutions respond to attempts at reform: by learning the new laws well enough to skirt them.Also arriving:April 4“The Invisible Pilot”April 5“Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off”April 8“A Black Lady Sketch Show” Season 3April 14“The Garcias” Season 1April 24“The Baby” Season 1April 27“The Survivor”April 28“The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin” Part 2Cynthia Erivo in “Roar.”Apple TV+New to Apple TV+‘Slow Horses’ Season 1Starts streaming: April 1Gary Oldman stars in this twisty British spy drama as Jackson Lamb, the grouchy supervisor of a ramshackle MI5 division known as Slough House, where disgraced agents are sent to do drudge work. Jack Lowden plays River Cartwright, a young operative determined to claw his way back from the bottom by doing some unauthorized investigating on a tricky case — and ends up dragging his misfit cohorts into it. Based on a Mick Herron series of mystery-thriller novels, “Slow Horses” features a terrific cast (including Olivia Cooke as Cartwright’s savvy-but-cynical colleague, Jonathan Pryce as his disappointed father and Kristin Scott Thomas as an upper-level MI5 boss) and a plot rooted equally in old-fashioned espionage stories and the modern realities of European security.‘Roar’ Season 1Starts streaming: April 15The writer-producer team of Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch — the cocreators of the TV series “GLOW” — go the anthology route with their new project “Roar,” which features lightly surreal half-hour dramas and comedies about women struggling to be seen and heard. Nicole Kidman is an executive producer, and also stars in one episode as an Australian woman taking her increasingly senile mother (Judy Davis) on a road trip, in a desperate effort to keep their family memories alive. Other episodes feature Issa Rae, as a best-selling author who travels to Hollywood and gets ignored by the people who want to adapt her book; Betty Gilpin, as a retired model whose husband (Daniel Dae Kim) puts her on a shelf as a literal trophy wife; and Merritt Wever, as a woman who falls in love with a duck.Also arriving:April 8“Pinecone & Pony” Season 1April 22“They Call Me Magic”April 29“Shining Girls”Andrew Garfield in “Under the Banner of Heaven.”Michelle Faye/FXNew to Hulu‘Under the Banner of Heaven’Starts streaming: April 28In Jon Krakauer’s controversial 2003 nonfiction book “Under the Banner of Heaven,” the author combined the true story of a heinous crime committed by a Mormon splinter group with the story of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints itself — making the argument that the line between fringe fanaticism and mainstream religion is thinner than many presume. The TV adaptation was written by the Oscar-winning “Milk” screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who grew up Mormon (and who also worked on the HBO series “Big Love,” about polygamous families in Utah). This mini-series focuses mainly on the murders covered in Krakauer’s book, with Andrew Garfield playing the detective investigating the case.Also arriving:April 1“Love Me” Season 1“Night Raiders”“Snakehead”April 4“Madagascar: A Little Wild” Season 7April 5“The Croods: Family Tree” Season 2“Monster Family 2: Nobody’s Perfect”April 6“The Hardy Boys” Season 2April 7“Agnes”April 8“Woke” Season 2April 9“American Sicario”April 10“The Hating Game”April 14“The Kardashians” Season 1April 21“Captive Audience”April 29“Crush”Rueby Wood, center, as Nate in “Better Nate Than Ever.”David Lee/Disney+New to Disney+‘Better Nate Than Ever’Starts streaming: April 1Based on Tim Federle’s Y.A. novel, “Better Nate Than Ever” tells the story of the enthusiastic and socially awkward middle school theater kid Nate Foster (Rueby Wood), who hops a bus from Pittsburgh with his best friend Libby (Aria Brooks) to attend an open audition for a Broadway musical. Federle wrote and directed this movie adaptation, which retains two of the central ideas from his book: that it takes a winning personality and a lot of good luck to make it in show business, and that Nate won’t succeed until he is honest with himself and with his loved ones about his sexuality. Lisa Kudrow plays a pivotal role as Nate’s Aunt Heidi, whose fading dreams of stage stardom still inspire her nephew.Also arriving:April 13“Scrat Tales” Season 1April 22“The Biggest Little Farm: The Return”“Explorer: The Last Tepui”“Polar Bear”April 27“Sketchbook” Season 1New to Peacock‘Killing It’ Season 1Starts streaming: April 14The affable comic actor Craig Robinson anchors the half-hour dramedy “Killing It,” playing a particular kind of Florida Man: an unflappable dreamer named Craig, who keeps pursuing his plans to become an entrepreneur even as he stumbles repeatedly into catastrophes. Rell Battle plays Craig’s brother Isaiah, who tries to lure him into a life of crime, while Claudia O’Doherty plays Jillian, an upbeat Australian ride-share driver who presents him with a strange and uniquely Floridian business opportunity: the chance to kill giant snakes for reward money. Cocreated by the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” writers Luke Del Tredici and Dan Goor, “Killing It” is a show about people following especially rocky paths as they chase their versions of the American Dream.Also arriving:April 20“So Dumb It’s Criminal” Season 1April 28“Smother” Season 2Christopher Walken in “The Outlaws.”James Pardon/Amazon StudiosNew to Prime Video‘The Outlaws’ Season 1Starts streaming: April 1Stephen Merchant is best known for co-writing the Ricky Gervais sitcoms “The Office” and “Extras,” but he tries something different with “The Outlaws,” a show halfway between a broad comedy and a crime drama. Merchant plays one of a handful of eclectic British citizens sentenced to community service to atone for various petty misdemeanors. As they shovel garbage in a blighted neighborhood, the members of this motley crew get to know each other, learning there’s more to their lives than their mistakes. The cast of cons also includes Christopher Walken as an aged reprobate, Darren Boyd as an uptight businessman, Eleanor Tomlinson as a celebrity influencer, Rhianne Barreto as an honors student who compulsively shoplifts, and Gamba Cole as a reluctant gangster who accidentally gets everyone into bigger trouble.Also arriving:April 8“All the Old Knives”April 15“Outer Range” Season 1April 29“Undone” Season 2 More

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      Late Night Gets Why Putin’s Advisers Keep Him in the Dark

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      “Of course they’re afraid to be honest,” Stephen Colbert said. “No matter what you say to a psychotic boss, you lose.”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.Putin’s LossRussian troops are reportedly afraid to let Vladimir Putin know just how poorly the war in Ukraine is going.“Of course they’re afraid to be honest. No matter what you say to a psychotic boss, you lose,” Stephen Colbert said.“There are a lot of reasons it’s going so terribly. The Russian troops, they have no clear purpose, the troops are running out of food, and it turns out they have really bad technology. For instance, while most modern military radios are impossible to intercept, many Russians forces are communicating on unencrypted high frequency channels that allow anyone with a ham radio to eavesdrop. To which Russian soldiers said, ‘A radio made of ham? Can I have one? I’m so hungry!’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Now, Russia’s walkie-talkies are being bombarded with heavy metal music from Ukrainian operators. OK, that’s not bad, heavy metal, but if Ukraine really wants to mess with Russian soldiers, they should flood their walkie-talkies with an unbearably long podcast.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“But Vladimir Putin may not be aware of how bad his invasion is going because new intelligence suggests his advisers misinformed him on Ukraine. Well, Putin’s clearly a victim of his own pro-Russia propaganda. He doesn’t even know that Russia lost ‘Rocky IV.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Intelligence officials reportedly believe that Russian president Vladimir Putin has only recently learned how poorly the invasion of Ukraine has been going and is angry with his military advisers. And you can tell he’s upset, because now the table is even longer.” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines (Walking It Back Edition)“And Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn is now taking back the comments he made about fellow lawmakers inviting him to orgies and doing cocaine in his presence. In a meeting with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Cawthorn admitted his comments were ‘exaggerated.’ He talked a big game about cocaine and orgies, but in reality, it was just Claritin, and an over-the-pants handy.” — JAMES CORDEN“First he said on a podcast that they did cocaine in front of him; now he says he thinks he may have seen a staffer in a parking garage from 100 yards away. How deluded are you to be in a parking garage, seeing someone lean over to pick up their keys and thinking, ‘Uh oh, looks like another cocaine orgy’?”— JAMES CORDEN“That was obviously a very bizarre and shocking allegation, and it pissed off Cawthorn’s G.O.P. colleagues because he seemed to be accusing his fellow Republicans of being the sex-crazed drug addicts. And by the way, let me just state for the record, I don’t care — have your orgies. You’re consenting adults. If you want to roll out a tarp in a Holiday Inn conference room and go to town on each other, be my guest.” — SETH MEYERS“Dude, when you’re trying to tamp down orgy rumors, don’t say ‘members,’ just say people — we know who you mean.” — SETH MEYERS“He sounds like me in high school trying to convince my mom and dad that everyone at the party was drinking except me: ‘No, I just had — I just had a Sprite because I didn’t like the taste of liquor.’” — JAMES CORDENThe Bits Worth WatchingSamuel L. Jackson talked about some of his iconic roles on Thursday night’s “Desus & Mero.”Also, Check This Out Elizabeth Alexander’s book of essays is accompanied by artwork, including Dawoud Bey’s “Martina and Rhonda, Chicago, Ill.,” 1993).Dawoud Bey. Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York.Elizabeth Alexander’s new book, “The Trayvon Generation,” traces the influences of racism and violence on American culture today. More

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      Stephen Colbert Condemns Trump’s Digging for Dirt During a War

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      “It’s generally frowned upon for U.S. presidents, current or former, to solicit our murderous mortal enemies for dirt on their political rivals,” Colbert said.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.Poor Sense of TimingIn a new interview with a right-wing news outlet this week, former President Donald Trump called on Vladimir Putin to release damaging information on the Bidens.Late-night hosts questioned his timing.“Damn, he’s asking for Russian help through the TV again? Does this man have no shame?” Stephen Colbert said. “And I withdraw the question.”“It’s generally frowned upon for U.S. presidents, current or former, to solicit our murderous, mortal enemies for dirt on their political rivals.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Well, now he’s asking Vladmir Putin to release dirt on the Bidens in the middle of a war. He wants our enemy to dig up damaging information about our president while he is attacking Ukraine — and he doesn’t see anything wrong with this. The whole free world is trying to stop Putin, Trump’s like, ‘Hey, got anything on the president’s crackhead son I can use? I’d really appreciate it.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“As usual, his timing is impeccable. He reminded the world that Putin is his buddy at the exact moment that everyone realizes that his buddy is actual Hitler. This is worse than last year, when Jell-O re-signed Bill Cosby to announce their new flavor, ‘Out on a Technicality Orange.’” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (G.O.P. After Dark Edition)“Speaking of right-wing weirdos, there’s some splashback to the story from North Carolina congressman and haunted jack-in-the-box, Madison Cawthorn. Recently, Cawthorn made some extraordinary claims that his Republican colleagues in Congress are orgy-frequenting degenerates with a fondness for hard drugs. Given the average age of the G.O.P., I assume they’re snorting Boniva.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Come on, man, do you really expect us to believe that Congress could plan and execute an orgy? At best, I can see them announcing an exploratory committee that would begin to investigate the feasibility of an orgy at a later date.”— SETH MEYERS“House G.O.P. leader Kevin McCarthy called Cawthorn into his office today, maybe hoping to score an invite or to tell him to stop narcing.” — SETH MEYERS“Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas said, ‘It does paint the picture here that isn’t accurate.’ Thank god, because that picture is too awful to be real. I’ve interviewed 80 members of Congress, and I’d have sex with two and a half of them. Not at the same time, of course — I’m not in the G.O.P.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“This whole group of pro-Trump toadies is just so weird and loathsome, like Texas Senator Ted Cruz, for example, who, I’m gonna go out on a limb here, wasn’t invited to the orgy.” — SETH MEYERS“Oh, please don’t name names, because all those names go with faces we know.” — SETH MEYERS“Also, I got to say, if they were having orgies and doing cocaine, I would actually find that impressive. I mean, they’re all 70 and 80 years old. If you told me Chuck Grassley was snorting blow and boning nonstop, I’d be like, ‘Damn, maybe he’s more with it than I thought.’” — SETH MEYERSThe Bits Worth WatchingA 72-year-old grandmother from the Bronx twerked for Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday’s “Tonight Show.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightThe creator and star of “Starstruck,” Rose Matafeo, will sit down with Seth Meyers on Thursday’s “Late Night.”Also, Check This OutThe author Casey McQuiston.Tonje Thilesen for The New York TimesAfter years of being relegated to back shelves, sales of L.G.B.T.Q. romance novels from authors like Casey McQuiston are booming. More