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      ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 2, Episode 7 Recap: What’s the Matter with Ted?

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      Also: Nate seems headed to a dark place, and Keeley and Roy explore whether there can be too much of a good thing.Season 2, Episode 7, ‘Headspace’At last: A clear vision of the trajectory of this season — hinted at last week — has come into focus. It’s not about wins and losses. We still have no idea of AFC Richmond’s chances of rejoining the Premier League. We don’t even know their next opponent in the FA Cup, following last week’s shocking upset of Tottenham Hotspur.What we do know is a little bit more about Ted and the journey he appears to be on this season. But I’ll come back to that. Let’s instead start at the beginning of the episode.To Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” the show posits the downside of a perfect relationship: Your jobs, interests and romantic ideals overlap so utterly that you are around each other every single minute. At least, that’s how things feel for Keeley. As self-evidently wonderful as Roy is, living with Angry Yoda 24/7 does sound a bit exhausting.And then, another subplot, more concerning still: Nate is obsessed with social media declaring him a hero after the win over Tottenham. But his father is still utterly dismissive. While yelling at other parts of the newspaper — “Let me know if they ever talk back,” says Nate’s mother — he ignores the back-page story about his suddenly famous, soccer-coach son.“They say humility is not thinking less of yourself,” he lectures Nate. “It’s about thinking about yourself less.”Maybe throw in a “Well done, son” somewhere? Or an “I’m proud of you”? Between Jamie and Nate (with Sam presented as a counterexample), Season 2 of “Ted Lasso” is turning into an exploration of poor fathering.And that’s all before the title sequence. We’ve already had a mouthful of plot, and we haven’t even tasted Ted’s crucial, perhaps season-defining, story line. Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.After the titles, we find Ted back in Sharon’s office, where he’d collapsed on the sofa last week. He seems much better than the curled-up fetal mess he was then, but only on the surface.The manic activity Ted has displayed in the last couple of episodes is again on full display, as he fiddles around about where to sit and anxiously messes around with Sharon’s vintage water-drinking bird. (Who would have guessed that the “Doctor! Floor! Ceiling! Trash can!” scene of two episodes ago would have been one of the most revealing moments of the season?)After Ted springs a quick trio of references to “Mad Men,” the “New Yorker” and “The Sopranos,” Sharon offers her most significant line of the season to date:“Don’t worry, Ted.”Like many, I’d initially imagined that Sharon would be a new foil for Ted, the old ones — Rebecca, Jamie, et cetera — having been so completely won over. But no. She is not here, like the others, to be helped by Ted. She is here to help Ted. And he clearly needs help.This will be the first of three visits Ted takes to Sharon this episode, and two out of three will end with him storming out angrily in distinctly non-Ted Lasso (maybe more Led Tasso?) fashion. The irony, clearly deliberate, is that Ted’s profound suspicion of psychotherapy is driven in large part by the fact that it is the professionalized version of what he does himself as a nonprofessional: get inside someone’s head as a paid quasi-friend and try to “fix” them. (Sharon makes this point herself fairly elegantly.)By the end of the episode, we still have little idea of precisely what is eating at Ted beyond his recent divorce. But Sharon’s role in the season — she is played, again, by the wonderful Sarah Niles — is much clearer. Stay tuned.That said, this is still a nascent story line. Let’s go back, for now, to our two big, pre-title-sequence subplots.Nate’s state of mind, which has been headed down a dark path for most of the season, has taken a still darker turn. His abuse of Colin, both on the pitch and off — you may recall he called him a “dolt” last episode — is accelerating, with him ultimately comparing Colin to a painter whose work hangs in a Holiday Inn. (Genuine question: Are Holiday Inns a significant presence in the U.K.? Or is this one of those moments when the series’s American roots show?)One of the things I’ve appreciated about this arc so far is that it understands that a deterioration like Nate’s isn’t linear. It takes place in fits and starts, sparked — in both directions — by specific occurrences. This episode, Nate has two clear moments of contrition, of maybe resetting himself in a good way for him and others alike. The first is when Coach Beard calls him out and a visibly stricken Nate asks, “Did you tell Ted?” (Beard subsequently disapparating is a nice touch, but one I hope won’t become a shtick.)The second is when Nate apologizes to Colin in front of the whole team. I love that while the rest of the team is using unprintable nouns to describe Nate’s behavior, Dani Rojas interjects — quite accurately — that he is a “wounded butterfly.”But Nate’s moments of self-correction don’t quite take root in his fragile psyche. All it requires is one nasty social-media comment to set him off, as he threatens to make the young kit manager Will’s life a “[expletive] misery” for coming up with his gag “Wonder Kid” jersey.It’s not clear precisely where this is all going. But I think it’s fair to say that it will get worse before it gets better.The episode’s other major plotline — Keeley’s need for just an ounce of “Me Time” away from Roy — is a new one, and one that seems to have been quickly resolved. (I should note that, having worked at the same organization with my wife not once but three times, I am supremely familiar with this dilemma. It may in fact be the closest I ever come to being Roy Kent.)I’m not sure there’s much more that needs to be said about this one, except that Roy’s effort at self-correction is vastly more successful than Nate’s. If anyone associated with “Ted Lasso” wants to pay me to market the “‘Roy Is Sorry for Not Understanding Keeley’ playlist,” well, you know where to find me. I promise it will be a chart-topper.So, Keeley and Roy are probably fine. Nate is getting worse. The Rebecca-Sam flirtation remains, for now, unresolved. And Ted’s manic-depressive turn requires further exploration. But don’t worry, Coach Lasso: We got you, babe.(Lots of) Odds and EndsPerhaps the biggest surprise of the episode was what didn’t happen. Last week concluded with the Big Reveal that Rebecca and Sam are romantic Bantr buddies — but that fact remains unrevealed to either of them. The episode reminded us that it was aware of this conundrum with its awkwardly-bumping-into-one-another scene, but that was it.How great is it that Keeley and Roy each describe the other at one point as “the cat’s pajamas”?Jan Maas’s role on the show has come into clearer focus, too. As a Dutchman, he has become the show’s inveterate truth-teller. When he sides with Jamie against Roy on the question of whether Jamie should crowd a teammate on the pitch — “He’s right, actually” — even Roy has no recourse but a frustrated obscenity.Ted’s reference to the Jerky Boys and the post-caller-ID decline of crank calling hit me particularly hard, as I devoted considerable energy to that vocation as a young teen. If you lived in Connecticut in the 1980s and received a call from “Fran the Funky Man at WDOD Waterbury” asking you to sing three lines of a Rolling Stones song in exchange for concert tickets — well, I apologize.Sharon’s line about needing to be Ted’s “tormentor” in order to be his “mentor” was a good one, but the subsequent exchange — Ted: “I like that”; Sharon: “I knew you would” — was priceless.Are Higgins and his wife becoming one of the great televisual romances of the 21st century? I say yes. The “have you seen her dressed in blue” moment in the bravura, five-minute “She’s a Rainbow” sequence from Episode 5 may be the highest point of an overall series high point.It was great to see Trent Crimm, who after his breakthrough role in Episode 3 of the first season (a.k.a. “the “Trent Crimm episode”) has become a kind of mascot for the show. But do more with him than having him seek a dumb, random quote from Ted. His screen time is precious!I’m not certain how Roy feels, but if people tried to cover up talking about me by jazz scatting whenever I entered the room, I think I’d be OK with that.As a premier Roy Kent fan from the start — I actually own a Kent jersey; I don’t get Nate’s issue with novelty gear — the idea that he is a fan of “The Da Vinci Code” is almost too terrible to bear. That said, his commentary, “You can’t put it down because the chapters are so short” is pretty spot on.After a slow week last time, we’re back in the game on pop-culture references, including (in addition to those already mentioned): Vladimir Putin, “Sex and the City,” Glenn Close, “Citizen Kane,” “Ratatouille, and “Twelfth Night” (Mae’s “If music be the food of love….”). Please remind me of others I missed in comments.Last week, folks pointed out that I should have cited Esther Perel and Brené Brown, and also offered two deep, deep cuts: The David-and-Goliath reference to “Steve Wiebe vs. Billy Mitchell” cited two past world champions of “Donkey Kong” (that was evidently a thing), and Ted’s voice mail greeting, “You gotta leave your name, leave your number…,” was a riff on an old “comic” answering-machine tape called Crazy Calls. (Hard as it is to believe, that was a thing, too.) Another reader pointed out that the Rebecca-Sam relationship parallels — in names at least — the romantic will-they-or-won’t they of Kirstie-Alley-era “Cheers.” I would say that’s a coincidence, but Jason Sudeikis is George Wendt’s nephew … More

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      The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in September

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      Our picks for September, including ‘Billions,’ ‘Goliath’ and ‘Worth’Every month, streaming services in Australia add a new batch of movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for September.New to NetflixSEPT. 2‘Q-Force’ Season 1The animated series “Q-Force” is both a campy social satire and a parody of over-the-top action-adventure movies. It follows the exploits of a team of secret agents who are frequently undervalued by their government handlers, because many of these superspies are openly gay. Sean Hayes cocreated the show and also voices the main character, Agent Steve Maryweather (dubbed “Agent Mary” by his dubious bosses). Wanda Sykes, Matt Rogers and Patti Harrison voice some of the hero’s colleagues, who have to fight both the nation’s enemies and their peer’s prejudices.SEPT. 3‘Worth’Kenneth Feinberg was the attorney assigned by the U.S. government to help manage its 9/11 compensation fund, intended to get the terrorist attacks’ survivors and the victims’ families paid quickly — while saving American businesses from potentially devastating lawsuits. In the provocative drama “Worth,” Michael Keaton plays Feinberg as a well-meaning pragmatist, who changes his way of thinking about the project after many of his potential payees take offense at the idea of putting dollar values on human lives. Sara Colangelo directed and Max Borenstein wrote this film, which has a unique take on the true cost of 9/11.‘Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali’NetflixSEPT. 9‘Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali’The boxer Muhammad Ali and the activist Malcolm X were close friends for a few years in the early 1960s, leaning on each other for advice and support at a time when they were each defying an establishment determined to silence them. The director Marcus A. Clarke’s documentary “Blood Brothers” — based on a book by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith — uses new interviews and vintage footage to tell the story of how these two men urged each other on, while also examining the circumstances that eventually drove them apart.SEPT. 10‘Kate’In this gritty thriller, Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays the title character: a skilled assassin who gets dosed with a deadly poison, leaving her with 24 hours to find out who is trying to kill her. As she races through Tokyo, Kate seeks the guidance of her longtime handler, Varrick (Woody Harrelson), while also trying to protect a teenager, Ani (Miku Martineau), who is related to one of her former targets. This story of violence and redemption puts an all-too-rare spotlight on Winstead, a fine actress and a compelling action heroine.‘Chicago Party Aunt’NetflixSEPT. 17‘Chicago Party Aunt’ Season 1The actor and comedian Chris Witaske is probably best-known as part of the cast of the Netflix series “Love,” but for several years Witaske has also run a Twitter account called “Chicago Party Aunt,” writing in the voice of a fictional Windy City long-timer who has spent some wild nights with nearly every famous Chicagoan. That Twitter feed has now been adapted into an animated series, with Lauren Ash voicing the legendary libertine Diane Dunbrowski, who knows how to find a good time in every neighborhood dive from Wrigleyville to Armour Square.SEPT. 22‘Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan’In the late 1970s, an Ohio man named Billy Milligan was accused of being a serial rapist. He was ultimately committed to a mental hospital instead of a prison term, after a team of psychiatrists determined that Milligan suffered from multiple personality disorder, and thus had no conscious awareness of having committed his crimes. The four-part docu-series “Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan” looks back at a trial and verdict which still raise a lot of questions today about mental health and justice.SEPT. 24‘Midnight Mass’The writer-director Mike Flanagan — the creator of Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House” — combines supernatural horror with small-town melodrama in this mini-series about a floundering fishing community which sees its fortunes start to change with the arrival of a mysterious new Catholic priest, Father Paul (Hamish Linklater). The increasingly strange and possibly dangerous phenomena that sweep across this tiny island cause the locals to face their past mistakes and regrets. Particularly shaken up is Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford), an ex-con hoping to repair his broken life without the aid of any shady miracles.Also arriving: “Afterlife of the Party” (Sept. 2), “Money Heist” Season 5, Part 1 (Sept. 3), “Kid Cosmic” Season 2 (Sept. 7), “Into the Night” Season 2 (Sept. 8), “JJ+E” (Sept. 8), “Lucifer” Season 6 (Sept. 10), “Metal Shop Masters” (Sept. 10), “Pokémon Master Journey: The Series” Part 1 (Sept. 10), “Prey” (Sept. 10), “Nailed It!” Season 6 (Sept. 15), “Schumacher” (Sept. 15), “Too Hot to Handle: Latino” (Sept. 15), “Sex Education” Season 3 (Sept. 17), “Confessions of an Invisible Girl” (Sept. 22), “Dear White People” Season 4 (Sept. 22), “My Little Pony: A New Generation” (Sept. 24), “Ada Twist, Scientist” (Sept. 28), “Sounds Like Love” (Sept. 29), “Love 101” Season 2 (Sept. 30).New to Stan‘Minari’StanSEPT. 1‘Animaniacs’ Season 1Aimed primarily at the ’90s kids who grew up watching the original “Animaniacs,” this revival mostly sticks with what fans loved the first time: zany irreverence, a blizzard of pop-culture references, and an animation style that is broadly cartoony and un-slick. The new series features the same core characters: the kooky siblings Yakko, Wakko and Dot, and the would-be world-dominating mice Pinky and the Brain. The show features a lot of the same entertaining schtick, balancing third-wall-breaking, “Looney Tunes”-style slapstick adventures with some cleverly snarky songs.SEPT. 2‘The Dissident’Bryan Fogel’s documentary “The Dissident” is an illuminating piece of investigative journalism, digging into both the scandalous murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the rise of tech-savvy authoritarian regimes around the world. The film is about how Khashoggi and the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — who has been accused of ordering the reporter’s assassination — each used the media to shape the international community’s opinions about the future of the Arab world. Fogel asks his audience to consider what becomes of society if the powerful decide which voices are heard and which crimes go unpunished.‘Billions’StanSEPT. 6‘Billions’ Season 5, Part 2This popular drama about the rivalries of the mega-rich was in the middle of another great season last year when COVID-19 shut down production. The creative team was finally able to reassemble to shoot the last five episodes, continuing a story which has seen the venture capitalist Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) try to buy respectability by founding his own bank, while the ruthless U.S. attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) is using every quasi-legal method at his disposal to bring Bobby down. “Billions” fans have been waiting for over a year to see how the season ends; they should savor every juicy plot twist still to come.SEPT. 16‘Minari’Youn Yuh-jung won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in the writer-director Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical dramedy “Minari,” about a Korean immigrant named Jacob (Steven Yeun) and his wife Monica (Yeri Han), who move to rural Arkansas to establish a produce farm. Youn plays Monica’s mother, who joins the family and urges them to preserve their cultural traditions as they pursue their American dream. Chung surrounds his leads with vivid detail, placing the humor, the anxiety and the hope of this family in the context of the sometimes welcoming and sometimes alienating Southern state where they try to make a home.SEPT. 26‘Black Mafia Family’The producing team of Randy Huggins and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (best-known for the “Power” franchise) turn to the true crime genre for their latest series, which begins in Detroit in the late 1980s. Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr. plays his own father, “Big Meech,” who alongside his brother Terry “Southwest T” Flenory (Da’Vinchi) rose from low-level drug trafficking to become nationwide gang bosses and players in the hip-hop industry. As with Huggins’ and Jackson’s other shows, expect “Black Mafia Family” to be frank about what it takes to get ahead in the criminal underworld — and about the toll it takes on those who succeed.Also arriving: “The Zhu Zhus” Season 1 (Sept. 1), “Code 404” Season 2 (Sept. 2), “Les Misérables” Season 1 (Sept. 2), “A.P. Bio” Season 4 (Sept. 3), “Jamie’s American Road Trip” Season 1 (Sept. 3), “Scaredy Squirrel” Season 1 (Sept. 3), “Dead Pixels” Season 2 (Sept. 7), “Where the Wild Men Are” Season 1 (Sept. 8), “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” Season 2 (Sept. 9), “Spliced” Season 1 (Sept. 10), “Love, Inevitably” (Sept. 10), “The Remarkable Mr. King” Season 1 (Sept. 10), “The Departed” (Sept. 12), “Liar” Season 2 (Sept. 15), “Storks” (Sept. 15), “The Fear” Season 1 (Sept. 16), “Streamline” (Sept. 16), “They Call Me Dr. Miami” (Sept. 19), “Pacific Rim” (Sept. 21), “New Amsterdam” Season 4 (Sept. 22), “Home Economics” Season 2 (Sept. 23), “Trigonometry” Season 1 (Sept. 23), “The Town” (Sept. 26), “Supernova” (Sept. 28), “Silk Road” (Sept. 30).New to Amazon‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’AmazonSEPT. 17‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’The title character in the hit British stage musical “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” is a teenage boy who challenges the bullies at his school and ultimately wins over his classmates when he opens up about his dream of becoming a drag performer. In the movie version, Max Harwood plays Jamie, while Richard E. Grant plays one of his drag mentors and Sharon Horgan plays a teacher who urges the youngster to get back into the closet. The show’s writer Tom MacRae also wrote the lyrics to its songs, set to upbeat and crowd-pleasing music by Dan Gillespie Sells.SEPT. 24‘Goliath’ Season 4In the fourth and final season of this moody, noir-influenced legal drama, the underdog attorney Billy McBride (played by Billy Bob Thornton, in peak form) tackles the big opioid companies, joining his ambitious colleague Patty (Nina Arianda) at a high-class San Francisco firm. “Goliath” has quietly been one of TV’s best crime shows since its 2016 debut; and while it’s too bad it’s coming to an end, at least it’s going out with another season of tense confrontations, big surprises, and stellar performances.Also arriving: “Cinderella” (Sept. 3), “LuLaRich” (Sept. 10), “Pretty Hard Cases” (Sept. 10), “The Voyeurs” (Sept. 10), “Do, Re & Mi” (Sept. 17), “The Mad Women’s Ball” (Sept. 17). More

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      12 Shows and Movies to Watch on Netflix Before They Expire in September

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      This month’s losses are heavy, including films from Noah Baumbach and Wong Kar-wai, along with one of history’s most beloved TV shows.This month’s exits from Netflix in the United States include films by the likes of Noah Baumbach, Wong Kar-wai and Edgar Wright. They also include two of our favorite recent genre series and one of the most beloved television shows ever. (Hint: It had a five-year mission but only a three-season run.) Dates reflect the final day a title is available.‘Kicking and Screaming’ (Sept. 3)The “Marriage Story” and “Frances Ha” director Noah Baumbach made his feature debut with this wry and witty 1995 indie comedy. He tells a story of early-20s ennui, as four university pals (played with verve by Chris Eigeman, Josh Hamilton, Carlos Jacott and Jason Wiles) knock around their college town in the year after graduation, not quite sure what to do with themselves. Baumbach’s dialogue is crisp and quotable, and the relationships are uncommonly rich, thanks in no small part to the performances of Olivia d’Abo, Parker Posey and Cara Buono as the endlessly patient women in their lives.Stream it here.‘Midnight Special’ (Sept. 6)One of the truly unsung gems of the past few years, this energetic and entertaining science-fiction thriller from the writer and director Jeff Nichols (“Take Shelter”) reverberates with the influences of “E.T.,” John Carpenter and early Stephen King, yet synthesizes those styles into something altogether its own. Michael Shannon is in top form as the father on the run with his 8-year-old son (Jaeden Martell, credited as Jaeden Lieberher), whose special gifts have attracted the attention of government officials (led by Adam Driver) and a religious cult (led by Sam Shepard). Kirsten Dunst, Joel Edgerton and Bill Camp round out the ensemble cast.Stream it here.‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ (Sept. 15)With his latest film, “Last Night in Soho,” finally making its pandemic-delayed debut this fall, it’s a fine time to revisit Edgar Wright’s electrifying 2010 adaptation of the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Michael Cera stars as the title character, a likable schlub who falls hard for the perfectly-named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), only to discover that in order to win her heart, she must defeat her “seven evil exes” (including Chris Evans, Brandon Routh and Mae Whitman). Wright finds just the right note for his comic book movie, jazzily incorporating the format’s visual touchstones and storytelling devices while juicing the picture with jolts of his unmistakable energy.Stream it here.‘Penny Dreadful’ Seasons 1-3 (Sept. 16)The Tony-winning playwright and Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan created this ingenious Showtime series, mixing up a tasty stew of Victorian-era monsters, mythology and literary flourishes. Eva Green is a marvel — scary, funny, entertainingly self-aware — as a monster hunter whose adventures in late 19th century London intersect with the worlds of “Dracula,” “Frankenstein,” “The Picture of Dorian Grey” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” as well as various gunslingers, werewolves and alienists. Those who know the characters and the books they inhabit will eagerly devour the references and intersections, but even newbies can latch on easily to the show’s dark humor, intricate narratives and copious gore.Stream it here.‘The Grandmaster’ (Sept. 26)Mainstream audiences who have discovered the charismatic Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai by way of Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” would be wise to queue up this 2013 martial arts drama, one of the actor’s many collaborations with the dazzling director Wong Kar-wai. Leung stars as Ip Man, master of the Southern Chinese kung fu style known as Wing Chun, who trained a young Bruce Lee. But Wong’s film is less a biopic than a Lee-style adventure, filled with stunningly photographed fight sequences and action set pieces. Netflix is streaming the film’s U.S. version, which is shorter and simplified but less impressive. Still, even in this truncated form, “The Grandmaster” is an overwhelming experience.Stream it here.‘Air Force One’ (Sept. 30)“Get off my plane!” growled Harrison Ford in this 1997 action extravaganza that, put simply, is “Die Hard” on the president’s airplane. Ford plays President James Marshall, who is en route from Moscow to the White House when a band of terrorists hijack Air Force One, taking his family and staff hostage. But Marshall is a combat vet and decides to back up his “no negotiating with terrorists” rhetoric with action. The director Wolfgang Petersen knows how to direct claustrophobic action (his breakthrough film was “Das Boot”), and Ford is a sturdy anchor, retaining credibility even in the script’s sillier moments. Gary Oldman, meanwhile, has a blast, chewing up copious amounts of scenery as the leader of the hijackers.Stream it here.‘Evil’ Season 1 (Sept. 30)With the second season of this supernatural drama migrating from CBS to Paramount+, it’s not too surprising that the first year is leaving Netflix to join it. Katja Herbers, Mike Colter and Aasif Mandvi star as three “assessors” for the Roman Catholic Church, almost like a Ghostbusters team for possessions, sent to determine the validity of such encounters. But “Evil” isn’t just another “Exorcist” rip-off; it has a classy pedigree, coming from the pens of Robert and Michelle King, the team behind “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight.” It is lifted by its uncommonly intelligent dialogue and pointed characterizations — and then it delivers the genre goods.Stream it here.‘Kung Fu Panda’ (Sept. 30)It’s forgivable to assume that this 2008 family favorite was DreamWorks’s transparent attempt to recreate the success of “Shrek”: a potentially franchise-starting, computer-animated feature, rife with pop culture references and built around the personality of a comic superstar. And those assumptions aren’t wrong. But “Kung Fu Panda” is enjoyable in spite of its unmistakable formula, primarily because of the incalculable charisma of its star, Jack Black; he is simultaneously funny, cuddly, sympathetic and inspiring as a slapstick-prone panda who must fulfill his destiny as the “Dragon Warrior.” (The first sequel also leaves Netflix on Sept. 30.)Stream it here.‘The Pianist’ (Sept. 30)Adrien Brody won the Oscar for best actor, and Roman Polanski (controversially) picked up a statue for best director for this 2002 adaptation of the 1946 memoir by the Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman. Brody stars as Szpilman, a popular Polish-Jewish pianist confined to the Warsaw Ghetto, and forced later into hiding, by the Nazi invasion of Poland. Polanski, himself a Holocaust survivor, directs the scenes of Nazi terror with a lived-in immediacy that feels like cinematic therapy. But he finds notes of humanity and even hope in Szpilman’s story. Brody is marvelous, disappearing into the role’s pain and joy, while Thomas Kretschmann shines in the complicated role of an unlikely ally.Stream it here.‘The Queen’ (Sept. 30)Before he took on the task of dramatizing the full life of Queen Elizabeth II, the creator of “The Crown,” Peter Morgan, tackled a much shorter period of her reign: the days and weeks immediately after the death of Princess Diana. Yet as the newly elected prime minister, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), pushes the queen (Helen Mirren, in an Oscar-winning performance) to acknowledge the loss of “the People’s Princess,” Morgan’s penetrative screenplay keenly frames their conflict as symbolic of the shifts happening in the roles of Britain’s government and monarchy at that time.Stream it here.‘Star Trek’: Seasons 1-3 (Sept. 30)In light of the franchise’s eventual revenues, budgets and cultural footprint, it’s frankly charming to revisit the original “Star Trek” TV series (1966-1969) and marvel at what a lo-fi endeavor it was. Still, its strengths were evident from the beginning: a setup that allowed for endless imagination; intelligent scripts that slyly framed contemporary issues; and a perfectly balanced cast, from the finely drawn supporting cast to the ying-and-yang acting styles of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Later iterations — like the 2009 cinematic reboot, the seven-season “Voyager” or the four-season “Enterprise,” all also leaving Netflix this month — may have been slicker, but few were as genuine.Stream it here.‘Why Do Fools Fall in Love’ (Sept. 30)We’ve seen no shortage of pop music biopics in recent years, with icons like Aretha Franklin, Freddie Mercury and Elton John getting the big-screen treatment. But this 1998 musical drama makes the case for dramatizing the lives of more obscure musical figures — which seems to allow for more dramatic freedom (and comic possibilities). The subject here is Frankie Lymon (Larenz Tate), whose group “The Teenagers” had a giant hit with the title track before disappearing into obscurity. The screenwriter Tina Andrews and the director Gregory Nava (who also directed the more conventional “Selena”) ingeniously tell his story through the eyes of three women (played by Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox and Lela Rochon), all of whom claimed to have married Lymon, who are battling over his estate. It’s a fascinating, untold story, thoughtfully exploring not only romantic entanglements but also themes of musical exploitation and the fleeting nature of fame.Stream it here.Also leaving: “Boogie Nights,” the “Austin Powers” trilogy and the “Karate Kid” trilogy (all Sept. 30). More

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      Adult Swim: How an Animation Experiment Conquered Late-Night TV

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      Cartoon Network’s nighttime adult programming block, which turns 20 this week, was built on lo-fi animation techniques that were as much a no-budget necessity as an aesthetic choice.By all accounts, it was a minor miracle that Adult Swim ever made it off the drawing board 20 years ago. Money was next to nonexistent. The editor of Cartoon Network’s first original series worked from a closet. A celebrity guest on that series, unaware of the weirdness he had signed up for, walked out mid-taping.In retrospect, it seems right that one of modern TV’s most consistent generators of bizarro humor — and cult followings — had origins that were, themselves, pretty freewheeling.“It was really just a labor of love,” Mike Lazzo, who oversaw programming for Adult Swim before he retired in 2019, said. “I think the audience could tell that and responded to it.”Early on, the idea was to create a late-night programming block for Cartoon Network’s sizable adult audience. What resulted was a hit, and over the years, Adult Swim’s early lo-fi aesthetic — as much a necessity as a choice, Lazzo said — attracted ambitious, out-of-the-box ideas, including an animated show starring a talking wad of meat (“Aqua Teen Hunger Force”), a cheesy talk show hosted by a Hanna-Barbera superhero (“Space Ghost Coast to Coast”) and a surreal, live-action satire of clumsy public-access TV (“Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!”).“Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” one of Adult Swim’s first series, features a character named Meatwad, right, a ball of meat scraps that the F.D.A. wouldn’t allow into a hamburger.Cartoon Network“We wouldn’t have fit in anywhere else,” said Tim Heidecker, who with Eric Wareheim created “Awesome Show” and has worked on several other Adult Swim series since. “There’s no other place on TV that made sense for us, and maybe that’s still the case.”Ahead of the 20th anniversary of Adult Swim’s Sept. 2, 2001, premiere, its creators, leaders, writers, animators and others spoke about the lean early days, the anything-goes atmosphere and the enduring legacy of their ambitious experiment. These are edited excerpts from the conversations.In the early 1990s, Cartoon Network found itself in an unusual situation: It controlled a sprawling animation library but didn’t have the budget to make animated shows of its own. Then a group of executives and cartoonists, led by Lazzo, proposed the idea of recycling the animation from Hanna-Barbera’s 1960s “Space Ghost” cartoon. They reimagined the titular superhero as a cheesy talk show host who interviewed real celebrities in a new show, “Space Ghost Coast to Coast,” which became the network’s first original series when it premiered on April 15, 1994.MIKE LAZZO (former executive vice president and creative director of Adult Swim) I got fed up reading over and over that we were nothing but a Hanna-Barbera rerun channel — which was, of course, true.BETTY COHEN (founding president of Cartoon Network) Mike Lazzo booked some time to come see me one day and said, “I want to show you something my team and I have been working on.” He put a VHS cassette into my machine, and it was the first incarnation of “Space Ghost.” It was so rough that there were times when he was having to personally narrate, and it was all on a rotoscope, which is sort of like cutting and pasting. But I immediately saw the potential. For the earliest funding, I actually allocated money from the marketing budget.LAZZO We went to Los Angeles and hired a reputable production house to make a pilot, which cost us $100,000, but we got it back and hated it. We were like, “This looks good, but it isn’t funny.” So we brought it back to Atlanta and did it ourselves for $25,000. Michael Cahill [now the vice president of on-air and social media for Adult Swim] would edit it in a closet that was just sitting empty.“There’s no other place on TV that made sense for us, and maybe that’s still the case,” said Tim Heidecker, left, who with Eric Wareheim created the sketch series “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” Adult SwimDAVE WILLIS (co-creator of “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” and “Squidbillies,” writer on “Space Ghost Coast to Coast”) We did the interviews over speaker phone, and we’d immediately ask guests the craziest stuff we could come up with — are you getting enough oxygen? What are your superpowers? Paul Westerberg [the musician and member of the Replacements] had never seen the show and walked out on me. He was like, “I don’t have time for this B.S.” That was when we started getting people to sign the waiver before they’d do the interview.The show gained a cult following among teens and young adults. Around 1998, Cartoon Network executives began thinking about another conundrum: how they could fill their ad space late at night, after young viewers went to sleep.MICHAEL OUWELEEN (president of Adult Swim) We started to notice that, at any given time, a third of the people watching Cartoon Network were adults who weren’t parents.LAZZO Our ad department could not sell late-night or overnight time periods on Cartoon Network — no one wanted to advertise to kids after 10 p.m.COHEN The question was, how could we appeal to a young adult audience without destroying our relationship with parents?Lazzo, who oversaw programming for the network, saw the potential of creating a late-night block of shows geared specifically toward adults.JIM SAMPLES (general manager and executive vice president of Cartoon Network when Adult Swim launched) Mike came into my office with a deck he’d put together, describing how he was going to produce all the on-air packaging for Adult Swim on practically zero budget, basically on someone’s computer. All the money that was being spent on fairly high-end packaging for the network, he wanted to divert to original programming. I was blown away by the idea. But we were dealing with resistance from our ad sales team. As a kids’ network, how were we going to actively market to adults? Was it a violation of our contract with cable operators? I put my career on the line to say it was a good idea.OUWELEEN We were given one year to name this thing, brand it and make the content — it was like a gauntlet thrown down. It was a very small group of us doing all of that in addition to our regular jobs at Cartoon Network. I can’t tell you how complicated it was. The creative team I was running came up with four names: “Aviso,” which means “warning” in Spanish; “Parental Block” — on cable boxes at the time, you could set the parental block to stop kids from watching stuff; “Insert Quarter,” like a video game; and Adult Swim. Lazzo always hated the name.LAZZO Blech! To this day, I hate that name. I still think it should be called “Cartoon Network After Dark.” Adult Swim is too clever by half for my taste.The first promotions for Adult Swim, which aired late at night, featured older adults swimming in a public pool, with a voice-over by a lifeguard: “Sundays at 10, it’s all kids out of the pool for adult swim.”OUWELEEN We wanted to send a definitive signal to kids: “This is not for you.” That’s why we chose old people at the pool — to scare kids away. We filmed an old-person aerobics class at the M.L.K. Natatorium here in Atlanta, and then we made [some of the footage] black-and-white to make it even more unattractive.Some of the first original Adult Swim shows, including “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” and “Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law,” were parodies or remixes of Hanna-Barbera superhero cartoons. Another, “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” drew its heroes from fast food.“Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law” was another early, inexpensively produced Adult Swim show that repurposed old Hanna-Barbera characters.Cartoon NetworkWILLIS The idea for “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” started with a [expletive] fast food restaurant that tried to use all the scraps of meat they weren’t allowed by the F.D.A. to put into a hamburger, wadded together. We saw Meatwad as this poor, neglected creature — I think his line in his first script was like [in Meatwad voice], “Please, God, kill me.” I did the voice, and I can’t tell you how many times people said, “I don’t understand what he’s saying; you need to recast him.” But we stuck to our guns. I always thought of it like Willie Nelson, who sings real quietly, and so everyone is on the edge of their seat trying to listen to what he’s saying. As a result, you’re more into it. At least, that was my excuse! [Laughs.]Adult Swim officially debuted on Sept. 2, 2001, and aired two nights a week from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. It kicked off with a new episode of “Home Movies,” a series that had been canceled midseason on UPN. The show, which featured the voice talents of H. Jon Benjamin (“Bob’s Burgers”), developed a devoted following during its second life on Adult Swim, as did other shows, like “Family Guy,” later on.WILLIS We were beating all the networks in the most prized demographic: men with money to spend. I distinctly remember bumping into the guy running ad sales in the bathroom. He said something to the effect of, “Wow, you really pulled that [expletive] out of the fire!” I was like, “What do you mean?” And he said, “I saw that thing [“Aqua Teen Hunger Force”] and I can’t believe I have to promote it as one of our new shows, but you guys really turned that around.” It was good to know we were thought of so highly. [Laughs.]The Adult Swim audience grew, and the block expanded. The shows got weirder and more experimental as they branched out from animation to live-action shows like the influential “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” (2007-10). Heidecker and Wareheim previously had created the similarly eccentric animated series “Tom Goes to the Mayor” (2004-2006) for Adult Swim.LAZZO After “Tom Goes to the Mayor,” Tim and Eric could pretty much come in and tell us what they wanted to do. And with “Awesome Show,” we knew when we were watching it that this was like no sketch comedy we’d ever seen. It changed the tempo of comedy and influenced so many young comedians. The editing style alone became pervasive.One of Adult Swim’s most critically successful series, “Rick and Morty,” has earned two Emmys for best animated series since its debut in 2013.Adult SwimTIM HEIDECKER We never took the writing part that seriously. We’d gather people for a couple of days and sit around and pitch very loose ideas, and then Eric and I would map out the kinds of bits we wanted to do. I hear about these writers’ rooms that are, like, 12-hour days, trying to break every joke and write everything ahead of time, and we were just like, “That’s a fool’s errand.” Give us something to start the process, and we’ll go from there.ERIC WAREHEIM That continued into the editing. There were moments we’d laugh so hard we’d literally cry because we loved our work so much. We were doing things we’d never seen before in comedy or on TV.HEIDECKER It seemed good at the time — we probably should’ve kept doing it.Twenty years later, Adult Swim airs seven nights a week. The lineup includes shows like “Rick and Morty,” which has won two Emmys for best animated series, and “Tuca & Bertie,” a critical darling that was rescued from oblivion after Netflix canceled it.OUWELEEN We joke that Covid finally put to bed every story headlined “Is adult animation a thing?”WAREHEIM We’re working pretty much the same way we worked 25 years ago — we get lunch and talk about ideas, and if we laugh, we write it down. If we don’t, it disappears.LAZZO I used to tell people I could ruin Adult Swim in two weeks — put on the wrong programs, be crass in the presentation. You can’t be greedy; you have to do things for the right reasons and not because they sell. As long as that remains the lamp, Adult Swim will continue forever. More

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      Mike Richards Is Out as ‘Jeopardy!’ Executive Producer

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      Three weeks after naming him as Alex Trebek’s replacement to host the show, Sony cited “disruption and internal difficulties” in its announcement that he will leave the program entirely.Sony said on Tuesday that Mike Richards would immediately exit his job as the executive producer of “Jeopardy!,” completing a stunning downfall for a game-show impresario who just three weeks ago had secured one of the most coveted jobs in television as the replacement for the longtime host Alex Trebek.“We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at ‘Jeopardy!’ it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks,” a Sony executive, Suzanne Prete, wrote in a memo to staff on Tuesday. “That clearly has not happened.”Mr. Richards is also set to leave his role as executive producer of “Wheel of Fortune.” He will be temporarily replaced at both programs by Michael Davies, a veteran game-show producer who developed the original American version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”Sony had named Mr. Richards as the permanent host of “Jeopardy!” on Aug. 11, calling him a “unique talent.” But Mr. Richards quit the hosting job on Aug. 20, days after a report by The Ringer revealed offensive and sexist comments he had made on a podcast several years ago, the latest in a series of scandals that tarred his brief tenure.Top executives at Sony had initially signaled support for Mr. Richards to stay on as executive producer even after he stepped down as host. But they eventually came to believe his continued presence would be untenable, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity to describe sensitive internal discussions.Crew members confronted Mr. Richards on Aug. 19 in an emotional meeting, where they expressed dismay at his past behavior and said it had imperiled the show’s reputation. An all-hands call last week that included Mr. Richards left some staff members demoralized. Some “Jeopardy!” fans also said they were confused as to why Mr. Richards was being allowed to stay on behind the scenes.A final decision was made over the weekend, the person said.Mr. Richards is in contact with the powerful Hollywood lawyer Bryan Freedman about negotiating his exit from Sony, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Mr. Freedman also represented the former NBC News anchor Megyn Kelly and Chris Harrison, the former host of “The Bachelor,” after their own abrupt ousters.Mr. Richards taped one week’s worth of “Jeopardy!” episodes in a single day of filming before Sony announced that he had ceded the hosting job. (Those episodes are still set to air the week of Sept. 13.) The sitcom star Mayim Bialik is expected to remain as the host of “Jeopardy!” prime-time specials, but Sony has said it would resume the search for a replacement for Mr. Trebek’s weeknight slot. Ms. Bialik will be the first guest host of the regular program in place of Mr. Richards.The competition to replace Mr. Trebek, who died in 2020 after serving as the show’s host for 37 years, captivated “Jeopardy!” fans and featured a parade of potential successors including the former contestant Ken Jennings and the actor LeVar Burton.But it was Mr. Richards who won out, despite having virtually no name recognition among viewers and the fact that, as the show’s executive producer, he had overseen elements of the replacement process. Old lawsuits also resurfaced from Mr. Richards’s last job running “The Price Is Right” that included accusations of sexist behavior.“Jeopardy!” first aired in 1964 and became a beloved TV institution that still draws millions of weekly viewers. The furor surrounding Mr. Richards pierced the show’s above-the-fray reputation, long cultivated by the understated Mr. Trebek, and subjected it to intense debates about diversity, privilege and behavior in the modern workplace.Sony’s leadership was also facing scrutiny for the mess. “Jeopardy!” had been a reliable jewel in the studio’s television portfolio, quietly earning tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue. But its messy succession drama roiled fans and raised questions about why Sony had not discovered Mr. Richards’s past offensive behavior before naming him as the new host.The report in The Ringer revealed offensive comments Mr. Richards made on a podcast, including a 2013 episode where Mr. Richards called his female co-host a “booth slut” because she once worked as a model at a consumer show in Las Vegas. He described women who wear one-piece swimsuits as looking “really frumpy and overweight” and referred to stereotypes about Jews and large noses, prompting outrage from the Anti-Defamation League.Mr. Richards, in a memo to the “Jeopardy!” staff on Aug. 20 announcing he would step down as host, wrote that “it pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on ‘Jeopardy!’ as we look to start a new chapter.”He closed the memo by writing, “I know I have a lot of work to do to regain your trust and confidence.”One prominent former contestant, James Holzhauer, who first appeared on “Jeopardy!” in 2019, seemed to rejoice on social media after the news of Mr. Richard’s exit, suggesting that he might not have even watched the show if Mr. Richards had remained involved.Andy Saunders, who runs the website The Jeopardy! Fan, said on Tuesday that he was relieved and hopeful that peace might be restored at the game show.“Its reputation has taken a bit of a hit over the past few weeks,” he said in an interview. “I’m really looking forward to being able to move on from this. And I’m hopeful that the show has learned from what’s happened.” More

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      The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Amazon, HBO, Hulu and More in September

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      Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our favorites for September.Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for some of September’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.)New to Amazon Prime VideoBilly Bob Thornton in “Goliath.”Greg Lewis/Amazon Prime Video‘Goliath’ Season 4Starts streaming: Sept. 24Billy Bob Thornton says goodbye to one of the best characters of his career with the fourth and final season of “Goliath,” a California legal drama inspired by film noir. Thornton has spent three seasons playing Billy McBride, a formerly high-powered and high-living lawyer who crashed hard and has since been trying to redeem himself, one seemingly unwinnable case at a time. For this last run of episodes, Billy finds himself in San Francisco, fighting his mental, physical and emotional frailties while helping a big-time law firm earn a potential billion-dollar settlement against some opioid-peddling pharmaceutical companies. Once again, an ace supporting cast (including the series regular Nina Arianda and the newcomers Bruce Dern, Jena Malone, J.K. Simmons and Elias Koteas) works magnificently to deliver a moody and complex mystery with juicy twists.Also arriving:Sept. 3“Cinderella”Sept. 10“LuLaRich”“Pretty Hard Cases”“The Voyeurs”Sept. 17“Do, Re & Mi”“Everyone’s Talking About Jamie”“The Mad Women’s Ball”New to Apple TV+Jared Harris in a scene from “Foundation.”Helen Sloan/Apple TV+‘Come From Away’Starts streaming: Sept. 10Two national tragedies — the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic — play a role in this recording of the Tony-winning musical “Come From Away,” shot in a Broadway theater earlier this year in front of a specially selected live audience of emergency responders, health care workers and 9/11 survivors. The show is a tuneful and impressionistic document of a true story from that day, describing the moments of kindness and connection that happened when the friendly Canadian small town of Gander, in Newfoundland, took care of over 7,000 passengers from planes diverted to its airport. Both an imaginative piece of journalism and an emotional recollection of a difficult time, “Come From Away” is a cathartic entertainment, tempering heartbreak with hope.‘Foundation’ Season 1Starts streaming: Sept. 24One of the most influential science-fiction franchises of all time, Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” is as relevant today as it was when the original trilogy of books was written in the 1940s and ’50s. The long-in-development, flashy-looking TV version embraces the modern parallels. Jared Harris plays the brilliant mathematician Hari Seldon, who has crunched the numbers and has determined that the millennia-old galactic empire is due for an irreversible collapse in a few centuries, leading to 30,000 years of chaos. But that chaos could be reduced to a mere 1,000 years if society took immediate steps to preserve its knowledge and culture. The show’s creators, David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, tell a story that spans multiple planets and decades but is ultimately about how ordinary human weaknesses and fears sometimes keep us from realizing our grandest ambitions.Also arriving:Sept. 17“The Morning Show” Season 2New to Disney+From left, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Mapuana Makia in a scene from “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.”Karen Neal/Disney‘Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.’ Season 1Starts streaming: Sept. 8This remake of the ’90s family dramedy “Doogie Howser, M.D.” moves the action from Los Angeles to Hawaii and changes the protagonist from a teenage boy to a teenage girl (played by the Disney Channel favorite Peyton Elizabeth Lee). But the premise remains the same: What if a child genius finished college and medical school early and became a licensed doctor by age 16? Like the original, this new “Doogie” is a coming-of-age story about a precocious kid, who discovers that knowing a lot about how to fix human bodies hasn’t wholly prepared her for the more adult problems of romantic heartbreak and workplace woes.Also arriving:Sept. 1“Dug Days” Season 1Sept. 3“Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles”Sept. 22“Star Wars: Visions” Season 1New to HBO MaxOscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain in the HBO remake of the Ingmar Bergman series “Scenes From a Marriage.”Jojo Whilden/HBO‘Scenes From a Marriage’Starts streaming: Sept. 12Based on the acclaimed 1973 TV mini-series from Ingmar Bergman, “Scenes From a Marriage” stars Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac as a seemingly content upper-middle-class couple whose relationship begins to splinter when the circumstances in their lives prompt them to scrutinize what they have. Written by the playwright Amy Herzog and the writer-producer-director Hagai Levi (best-known for the original Israeli version of the show that became HBO’s “In Treatment”), this new “Scenes” follows the arc of Bergman’s original story while taking into account what has changed in the past 50 years of gender dynamics. Chastain and Isaac anchor the series, playing a husband and wife who still love and appreciate each other but who have outgrown their old expectations.Also arriving:Sept. 2“Adventure Time: Distant Lands — Wizard City”Sept. 10“Malignant”Sept. 15“A la Calle”Sept. 17“Cry Macho”Sept. 23“Ahir Shah: Dots”“Doom Patrol” Season 3Sept. 26“Nuclear Family”Sept. 30“The Way Down”New to HuluKayvan Novak as Nandor in a scene from Season 3 of “What We Do in the Shadows.”Russ Martin/FX‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Season 3Starts streaming: Sept. 3This hilarious horror mockumentary had a great run last year, with the cast and writers expanding on the show’s initial concept: a Staten Island version of the 2014 New Zealand movie about bickering vampire roommates. “What We Do in the Shadows” is still an episodic sitcom, with each chapter telling its own story. But the larger arc that started to develop in Season 2 continues in Season 3 as this band of slacker bloodsuckers and their shrewd human assistant Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) find themselves presented with new opportunities. Although the characters have richer back stories now — filled with bizarre, centuries-old grudges — this show’s primary asset is still its performances, as some very funny actors react with deadpan irritation at the paranormal craziness surrounding them.‘Y: The Last Man’ Season 1Starts streaming: Sept. 13For over a decade, the Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra comic book series “Y: The Last Man” has been in development for a screen adaptation — first for the movies and then for TV. There’s a good reason the project’s producers have been so persistent: “Y” has an irresistibly juicy premise, depicting a society where an apocalyptic event has killed every mammal with a Y chromosome on Earth except for one. The comics are also filled with memorable characters and thrilling plot twists. This version retains both the grabby story and the fascinatingly eclectic cast — including the title hero, Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer). But the series’s head writer, Eliza Clark, has also updated the original’s exploration of gender roles.Also arriving:Sept. 2“Trolls: TrollsTopia” Season 4Sept. 3“The D’Amelio Show” Season 1Sept. 8“Wu-Tang: An American Saga” Season 2Sept. 10“The Killing of Two Lovers”Sept. 16“The Premise” Season 1“Riders of Justice”“Stalker”Sept. 29“Minor Premise”New to PeacockFrom left, Sumalee Montano, Ashley Zukerman and Rick Gonzalez in a scene from “Dan Brown’s the Lost Symbol.”Rafy/Peacock‘Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol’Starts streaming: Sept. 16“The Lost Symbol” is the third novel in Dan Brown’s popular series of books about Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor who specializes in symbology and classical art — and who often ends up using his know-how to help the authorities crack the secret codes underlying international conspiracies. Tom Hanks has played Langdon in the movie versions of Brown’s stories. Ashley Zukerman has taken on the role for a TV adaptation that is meant to serve as an entry point for newcomers. As with the books and the films, this version is a complicated tale of good versus evil, featuring a lot of scenes of smart folks solving ancient puzzles in dark and dangerous chambers.Also arriving:Sept. 2“A.P. Bio” Season 4 More

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      Watch One of the Best Current Comedies on TV

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      “What We Do in the Shadows” is back. Our TV critic also recommends a beachy Australian procedural.This is a preview of the Watching newsletter, which is now reserved for Times subscribers. Sign up to get it in your inbox four times a week.Dear Watchers,Netflix announced on Saturday that it has picked up “Manifest” for a fourth and final season after the show was canceled by NBC earlier this summer.Have a chill week.I want something beachy but still murder-yEbony Vagulans, left, and Lucy Lawless in a scene from “My Life Is Murder.”Matt Klitscher/AcornTV‘My Life Is Murder’When to watch: Now, on Acorn.Lucy Lawless stars in this Australian procedural as Alexa, a retired cop who just can’t stay out of the murder-solving game. The show sometimes feels a little retro thanks to its unfussy pacing and to bumper music that sounds as if it were from a ’90s sitcom, and its tone is more like that of “Psych” or “Monk” than of a grueling European misery opera. There’s a sunny ease and quirk to it all, and Lawless is a lot fun to watch. The entire 10-episode first season is available to stream, and the first two episodes of Season 2 are, too; new episodes arrive Mondays through Oct. 25.I need a comedy that’s genuinely ha-ha funnyHarvey Guillén in a scene from “What We Do in the Shadows.”Russ Martin/FX‘What We Do in the Shadows’When to watch: Thursday at 10 p.m., on FX.Oh thank God, one of the best current comedies is back this week for its third season. You’ll get more out of the continuing plots if you start at the beginning — Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Hulu — but don’t let a completeness fetish keep you from the ridiculous joys of these Staten Island vampires. We pick up in the aftermath of Guillermo’s heroics at the end of last season, where he killed a bunch of other vampires to protect our crew; this violates vampire law, though, so now he is imprisoned in a cage in the basement. “Shadows” thrives on clashes of majesty and mundanity, the fancy-schmancy lore contrasted with sibling-style bickering. If you are feeling a bit frayed right now and want something brilliant and silly, a true pleasure, watch this.Also this weekPatton Oswalt in a scene from “A.P. Bio.”Evans Vestal Ward/PeacockThe fantastic, strange comedy “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace,” which stars Matt Berry from “What We Do in the Shadows,” is now on Peacock in addition to Amazon Prime Video.“Sparking Joy,” a new Marie Kondo show, arrives Tuesday, on Netflix. It’s only three episodes, and none of them sparked much joy in me; they’re pretty similar to “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” but phonier and less helpful.“Future of Work,” a three-part documentary, begins Wednesday at 10 p.m., on PBS. (Check local listings.)Season 4 of “A.P. Bio” arrives Thursday, on Peacock. More

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      Review: Martin Short Kills in ‘Only Murders in the Building’

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      Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez star in a Hulu comedy about homicide, podcasts and the peculiarities of life in a New York luxury prewar building.Martin Short gives a master class in “Only Murders in the Building,” the 10-episode Hulu series in which he stars with Selena Gomez and Steve Martin. (The first three episodes premiere Tuesday.) It’s not a class in acting or comedy so much as it is a seminar in agelessness and professionalism, and in Short’s unmatched ability to turn self-absorption into a virtue.Martin, who conceived of the show, created it with John Hoffman and stars in it — Martin’s first continuing role on television — is the elephant in the spacious rooms of the Upper West Side prewar apartment building where “Only Murders” is set. (The exteriors and the courtyard are those of the grand Belnord at Broadway and 86th Street.)But it is Short, his frequent collaborator, who gives the show some comic spark and humanity, making Martin and Gomez his foils, in the most charming way possible. He steals every scene, not through grandstanding but with the steady skill of an old pro. He slays with filler dialogue (“You’re kidding me!” when his character isn’t allowed to return to his apartment) and throwaway gags (“Oh, you’re not Scott Bakula?” aimed at the always graciously self-deprecating Martin). You wish he were onscreen every moment.He’s onscreen enough to carry you through “Only Murders,” an otherwise benign grab bag of familiar elements. It’s a lampoon of New York eccentricity, an ever so slightly mawkish tale of golden-agers getting their mojo back, and a cozy mystery of the closed-room variety, though in this case the room is a hulking co-op apartment building.The one original ingredient in this blend is showbiz comedy: the three lead characters are all obsessed with true-crime podcasts, and when a fellow resident of their building is murdered in his apartment, they whip up their own broadcast titled “Only Murders in the Building.” (The series has some vanity-project vibes, and the inscrutability of the title doesn’t help dispel them. It refers to one character’s insistence that their podcast remain strictly local; imagine Martin saying, “Only murders IN THE BUILDING.”)The central trio, pulled together by the murder, represent different shades of New York narcissism. Charles (Martin), a once-famous TV actor, is smug and misanthropic; Oliver (Short), a once-successful Broadway director, is gabby and theatrical; the much younger Mabel (Gomez), about whom little is known, is laconic and disdainful.The central trio bonds over a shared obsession with true-crime podcasts.Craig Blankenhorn/HuluAs they bond over their shared grisliness and get excited about both solving a mystery and creating a podcast, there’s fun to be had from Oliver and Charles’s bickering, and the amateur detective work, while pretty routine, passes by painlessly. The depiction of co-op life will be amusing at least to those familiar with the real thing, and it’s fleshed out by a great supporting cast drawn from New York theater: Nathan Lane as a deli king and sometime Broadway angel, Amy Ryan as a possible love interest for Charles, Jayne Houdyshell as the foul-mouthed board president, Vanessa Aspillaga as the super. Da’Vine Joy Randolph shows up as a real detective who despises true-crime podcasts, and Tina Fey and Sting (as himself) drop in for entertaining cameos.All of those seasoned performers provide moments of pleasure, and the various narrative threads play out with polished proficiency. But “Only Murders” doesn’t gel into something beyond the ordinary. Part of the problem is the time devoted to the show’s sentimental side, in which the podcast’s success might repair Oliver’s relationship with his son, return Charles’s self-esteem and solve the riddles of Mabel’s troubled past, breaking all of them out of their lonely New York shells.That material takes some of the life out of what’s otherwise a slight but charming comedy, and it doesn’t do any favors to Martin, whose performance is a little dour and closed off, or to Gomez, who looks uncomfortable and occasionally terrified. (With all the veteran talent on the set, you would think that someone could have helped her relax and find something natural to play.)It never slows down Short, however; he can turn on a dime and make Oliver’s desperation touching, then sail right back into high comic mode. He’s the real killer in the building. More