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      ‘Câreme’ Serves Up Satisfaction in the Kitchen and the Bedroom

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      “Carême,” a new Apple TV+ series, is based on the life of a 19th-century society chef who delighted diners and lovers. It’s very French.In recent years, you may have followed a hunky onscreen chef, battling chaos to create outstanding food on FX’s “The Bear.” Maybe you also fell for “Bridgerton,” Netflix’s lavish, anachronistic romp through the 19th-century upper classes.Now “Carême,” a new Apple TV+ show arriving Wednesday, combines the pleasures of both those shows to tell the story of Marie-Antoine Carême, who was perhaps the world’s first celebrity chef. Born into poverty in late-18th century Paris, Carême rose to cook for Napoleon Bonaparte, a Russian czar and a member of the Rothschild banking family, delighting European high society with his intricate, architectural dishes. He is often credited as the founder of French gastronomy — and with popularizing the tall chef hat.To convey how innovative Carême was, “our vision was to avoid a usual period drama style,” said Martin Bourboulon, who directed the show’s first three episodes. Although “Carême” is based on a book by Ian Kelly, Bourboulon said he and his colleagues approached the period elements with a “side step,” and added some modern twists to the historical fact.Lyna Khoudri, left, and Voisin in “Carême.”Apple TV+The costumes, for instance, nod to 20th-century and contemporary fashions, and so they had to be made from scratch rather than rented, as is typical on a production of this scale. The characters speak modern French, and Benjamin Voisin plays Carême as a tousle-headed, opium-taking charmer, with the rebellious attitude of Mick Jagger and Lenny Kravitz.It’s unsurprising, therefore, that it can seem as if almost as many of Carême’s scenes are set in the bedroom as in the kitchen — and some of those kitchen scenes are still quite sexy. “I found similarities between the sex scenes and the food scenes,” Bourboulon said, especially when it came to the care Carême takes giving pleasure in both contexts.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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      ‘Carême’ Is a Sexy Historical Kitchen Drama

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      The series, about a celebrity chef in Napoleonic France, has a loose relationship to historical facts. But that frees it to be spry and fun.The French drama “Carême,” beginning Wednesday, on Apple TV+ (in French, with subtitles, or dubbed), is the story of the chef Antonin Carême, who rose to prominence during the reign of Napoleon and whose ideas still shape the modern food world. Can he save France through the sheer thinness of his pastry layers … and also through his blazing horniness and sexual charisma? Oui! Sorry — oui, chef! (According to the show, he’s the guy who invented saying that.)Benjamin Voisin stars as Carême: pouty, endlessly flirtatious, exacting, gifted. Were motorcycles a thing in 1803, he would have a motorcycle. His ambition — and his medical knowledge of herbs and elixirs — catches the eye of the powerful politician Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, and although Carême initially resists, he agrees to work for Talleyrand and finds himself cooking for Napoleon’s inner circle. Bonaparte, as many of the characters call Napoleon, goes largely unseen on the show; “Carême” focuses on all the behind-the-scenes players, all the power, influence and intrigue that exist around and beyond a throne.“Cooking is very similar to seducing,” Talleyrand (Jérémie Renier) tells Carême. Yeah, dude, he knows. Everybody’s in bed with everybody here: romantically, sexually, but especially politically. When we’re not gazing in wonder at perhaps the world’s greatest array of copper pots, we’re listening in on various zigs and zags of espionage and diplomacy. Carême uses his dishes to woo foreign officials and communicate with political prisoners, to curry favor with the Pope, to coerce a king in exile.The show is based on the book “Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Carême, the First Celebrity Chef,” by Ian Kelly. Like many period dramas, “Carême” has a loose relationship to historical facts, and its dialogue is decidedly modern. Freed from the shackles of accuracy, the show is instead able to indulge in being spry and fun, without the lugubriousness of bleak historical dramas or the self-seriousness of kitchen dramas. It has the fizz of “Downton Abbey,” in its pomp and in the frequency with which bad news is delivered by note.It also does often resemble “The Bear,” as Carême and Carmy both use sketching and meticulous cooking as ways to process (or not) their daddy issues. Both chefs rely on the steady genius of a Black female second-in-command, here Agatha (Alice Da Luz), a brilliant and disciplined chef and leader. The stakes on “Carême” are much higher — i.e., the genuine fate of Europe — but the show is much lighter.So light, in fact, that it often drifts into the cartoonish appeal of a musical, especially in its eyebrow-waggling, Javert-tinged villain (Micha Lescot). Carême’s grand, theatrical creations would be right at home in “Be Our Guest,” and proclamations on how one seizes power and lamentations on the sorrows of orphanhood have certainly lent themselves to song before.Two episodes of “Carême” arrive on Wednesday, and the subsequent six premiere weekly. Sadly, only one episode can be titled “A Recipe for a Disaster.” More

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      Reality TV Wades Into Cross-Generational Dating Pools

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      Bravo’s “Love Hotel” and ABC’s “Bachelor in Paradise” are widening the age range of prospective love matches.Age-gap relationships are nothing new when it comes to depictions of older men in TV and film plots. But a wave of recent releases, including “Babygirl,” “The Idea of You,” “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” and “Lonely Planet,” have zeroed in on romantic and sexual relationships between women in midlife and younger men.Two new reality dating spinoffs are now catching up. Bravo’s “Love Hotel,” which premiered Sunday, features three over-50 “Real Housewives” — Luann de Lesseps, 59, Gizelle Bryant, 54, and Shannon Beador, 61 — looking for love among eligible bachelors whose ages range from their 30s to their 60s at a luxury resort in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Ashley Darby, 36, rounds out the group of bachelorettes.)In the first episode Bryant asks Wale Alesh, 38, if he wants children. When he responds that he does, the cameras cut to Bryant in an interview filmed after. “Gizelle doesn’t have a uterus, so that means we aren’t compatible,” she says, speaking in the third person.Meeting Jay Bramble, 46, Bryant explained: “My three daughters are in college. I have the house to myself, so I just walk around naked.” He responded, “You’re living the dream.”Bryant, who is divorced and who dated the “Winter House” cast member Jason Cameron, 38, on a past season of “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” said it’s important that audiences see mature women living vital love lives. “Hey, ain’t nobody dead because they have, like, jumped over 39,” she said in an interview.Bryant added that the program gives the women a chance to show “we can spend whatever days we have left in a happy place with somebody that, you know, you really want to rock out with.”

      @bravotv Be cool, the wait for #BravosLoveHotel is over. #CountessLuann ♬ Luanns Right Back from Bravos Love Hotel – Bravo 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 Pokes Fun at Trump’s Dismal Poll Numbers

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      Seth Meyers called Donald Trump “the most unpopular president since Kevin Spacey.” Even measles is polling better, according to Jimmy Fallon.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.Down BadPresident Trump will mark 100 days in office this week, but most of the country won’t be celebrating, to judge from his falling poll numbers.On Monday, Seth Meyers said Trump was “killing it — and by ‘it,’ I mean his approval ratings.”“Donald Trump is the most unpopular president since Kevin Spacey.” — SETH MEYERS“After almost 100 days in office, Trump is as popular as Kanye at a bat mitzvah.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Time really flies when you’re in the fetal position, doesn’t it? — BILL MAHER“In the ABC poll, more than 70 percent of Americans say the economy today is either ‘not so good’ or ‘poor.’ The other 30 percent are either in a coma or in his cabinet or both.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Yep, Trump’s approval rating is down to 39 percent. Even measles is polling at 40 percent.” — JIMMY FALLON“In a post on Truth Social yesterday, President Trump urged House Republicans to skip a celebration of his first 100 days in office to vote on his tax bill. Oh, I hate to break it to you, buddy — there wasn’t going to be a celebration.” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines (Cedric the Entertainer Edition)“For whatever reason, even though the Vatican dress code specifically recommended a dark suit for the service, Trump showed up in his bluest blue suit, something from the Cedric the Entertainer funeral collection.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Trump wore his blue suit, and Melania wore her wedding dress.” — JIMMY FALLON“Trump thought it was a funeral for his holiness, Papa Smurf.” — JIMMY FALLON“Meanwhile, Trump wore a black suit for a week after Hooters went out of business.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingThe “Oh, Mary!” star Cole Escola showed Stephen Colbert how to play a straight guy on Monday’s “Late Show.”What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightJulia Louis-Dreyfus will appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”Also, Check This Out“This is where I belong, these are my people,” Sister Monica Clare said. “I never thought I would find that.”Lila Barth for The New York TimesSister Monica Clare presents a compelling argument for convents in her popular TikTok content and a new memoir. More

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      Bill Belichick’s Girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, Shuts Down Question About Their Relationship

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      The legendary football coach has never shared much with the news media, but on Sunday it was Jordon Hudson who shut down a line of questioning.When Bill Belichick, one of the country’s most famous football coaches, appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning” over the weekend to promote his new book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons From My Life in Football,” he touched on a number of topics, including his apparent disdain for inspirational halftime speeches.Football, Mr. Belichick said in his interview with Tony Dokoupil of CBS, is really about strategy: What is his opponent doing? How does his team need to adjust?“Identifying a problem,” he went on, “figuring a solution and then executing that plan to make it work.”Jordon Hudson, Mr. Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend, tried to do exactly that at one point in the interview, when Mr. Dokoupil asked Mr. Belichick, 73, how they had met.“We’re not talking about this,” Ms. Hudson interjected off camera from the producer’s table.“No?” Mr. Dokoupil asked her.“No,” Ms. Hudson said.A spokesman for Mr. Belichick and the University of North Carolina’s football team declined to comment on the interview, but Mr. Belichick’s relationship with Ms. Hudson — and, of course, their nearly 49-year age difference — has been a source of intrigue since the couple went public last year.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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      ‘The Four Seasons,’ Plus 7 Things to Watch on TV this Week

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      A new series comes to Netflix, a true crime documentary airs and “The Righteous Gemstones” wraps up its season on HBO.Between streaming and cable, there is a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that air or stream this week, April 28-May 4. Details and times are subject to change.Friendship, courtship.“The Four Seasons,” a comedy series starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell, is based on the 1981 Alan Alda movie of the same name. Fey and Carell play Kate and Jack, whose decades-long friendship with three other couples (Marco Calvani, Colman Domingo, Will Forte, Erika Henningsen and Kerri Kenney-Silver also star) is tested when one divorces, complicating their tradition of quarterly weekend getaways. Streaming Thursday on Netflix.With the 20th anniversary of the Keira Knightley-Matthew MacFadyen “Pride and Prejudice” movie upon us, Jane Austen has been top of mind lately. And right on topic, the BBC series “Miss Austen” is making its U.S. debut this week. The series follows, of course, Jane Austen (Patsy Ferran) and her sister Cassandra (Keeley Hawes) through their lives, romances and friendships. Though the characters are all based on real life people in Austen’s life, the actual story lines here are mostly fictional. Sunday at 9 p.m. on PBS.Fashion, faith.After 10 years of “What Not to Wear,” a public falling out and a rebrand, Stacy London and Clinton Kelly are back with their new show “Wear Whatever the F You Want.” The show still features fashion advice but now takes a different approach: It’s less about giving people hard-and-fast fashion rules and more about figuring out their ideal styles (punk rock, boho chic, glam queen) and what they feel confident in. I’m just happy to have the charming banter between Stacy and Clinton back on my TV screen. Streaming Tuesday on Prime Video.Walton Goggins in “The Righteous Gemstones.”Jake Giles Netter/HBOWe used to have Walton Goggins on our screens twice a week with “White Lotus,” which recently wrapped up, and “The Righteous Gemstones,” which is ending this week, so now it will sadly be zero times. The series, which follows the Gemstones, a family of wealthy televangelists who run a megachurch, has been a bit tame for its fourth and final season. But there are still plenty of shenanigans, ridiculous but catchy songs and strange family bonding. The series finale airs Sunday at 10 p.m. on HBO and is available to stream on Max.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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      ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 3 Recap: Rate Your Pain

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      The first episode after last week’s loss of a major character makes a fine case for this season’s future.Season 2, Episode 3What is the appropriate amount of time for a TV character to mourn another TV character? In the old days, when television was less serialized, the answer to that question was usually “until the episode’s closing credits.”Then in the 1990s and 2000s, the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon was partly responsible for changing the way TV series handle death, with heroes carrying the pain of a loss for multiple episodes — to the point where fans would anxiously wonder whether the show would ever be fun again.In this week’s episode of “The Last of Us,” the credited screenwriter and series co-creator, Craig Mazin, takes a smart approach to the aftermath of Joel’s horrible, bloody murder. Mazin jumps the action ahead three months, just as Ellie is getting out of the hospital, and long after she has gotten used to the idea of losing Joel. When Ellie is discharged, she is not mopey or surly. Instead, she is ready to get on with the next phase of her life: finding and killing Joel’s assassin, Abby.I question a different choice Mazin makes, however. This is an unusual “Last of Us” episode in that it lacks any kind of big action or horror set-piece. There is one devastating moment of violence that happens offscreen, and the episode ends with a major threat looming. But unlike in Season 1, where the calmer scenes of people hanging out and living life were balanced with terrifying monster attacks and shootouts, this week Ellie and the Jacksonians mostly just regroup. Given that some disgruntled fans have wondered whether this show can be as entertaining going forward without Joel, I’m somewhat surprised that this episode is so devoid of spectacle.That said, for people like me, who think Ellie is fascinating enough to carry a series, this episode makes a fine case for this season’s future.The action this week — such as it is — is understandably Ellie-focused. First, she completes her checkout from the hospital, which involves rating her pain level for the doctor (“nothing … zero”) and then getting past Gail, who knows she is not being wholly honest about how Joel’s death is affecting her. Gail mentions her own last conversation with him, and how he said that he had wronged Ellie by saving her. Ellie pretends not to know what Joel meant, then spins some therapy-speak to get Gail off her back.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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      Jiggly Caliente, ‘RuPaul Drag Race’ Star and Judge, Dies at 44

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      Fans knew Ms. Caliente for her sense of humor, vigorous dance skills and interactions with fellow cast members on the popular drag television show.Jiggly Caliente, the fiercely humorous “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star and a judge of the show’s Philippines spinoff, who also had a recurring role as a shopkeeper on the television series “Pose,” died on Sunday. She was 44.Her death was confirmed on Instagram by her family. The post did not cite a cause or say where she died.The death came days after her family said that Ms. Caliente had recently had a health setback. The family said that she was hospitalized because of a severe infection and had surgery in which she lost most of her right leg.Ms. Caliente rose to prominence as a contestant in the fourth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” in which she was eliminated in the seventh episode in 2012. She appeared in the sixth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” in 2021 and was eliminated in the second episode.“Thank you so much for showing every chubby little brown girl in the world that there is always a girl to look up to,” she told RuPaul after her elimination in 2021. “This doesn’t break me. This doesn’t end me. This is not the last of me.”Fans knew Ms. Caliente for her humor, her vigorous dance skills and splits, and her interactions with fellow cast members.In one episode, she called out a competitor, Lashauwn Beyond, for not knowing how to apply her makeup nicely. Ms. Beyond replied, “This is not ‘RuPaul’s Best Friend Race,’” a line that became a catchphrase in the show.Jiggly Caliente at “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” in 2021.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.Created by the entertainer RuPaul Charles in 2009, the show follows a group of national and international drag performers who compete each season in weekly challenges and lip sync battles to take the top cash prize and crown.Ms. Caliente (Bianca Castro-Arabejo, offstage) was born on Nov. 29, 1980, in San Pedro, Philippines, and moved to the United States in 1991 with her mother and brother.When she began performing as a drag queen, she named herself after Jigglypuff, the pink spherical character from the popular “Pokémon” franchise.In 2016, Ms. Caliente came out as a transgender woman. In an Instagram post on Trans Day of Visibility that year, she wrote, “Our trans Brothers and sisters are very much a part of our struggle for equality.”Her popularity on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” led to her becoming a judge on the show’s Philippines version beginning in 2022.In addition to those appearances, Ms. Caliente had a recurring role as a clothing shopkeeper, Veronica Ferocity, on the FX series “Pose,” which followed a group of young and older gay, transgender and drag performer friends in New York City in the 1980s.Information on survivors was not immediately available. More