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      ‘Lady in the Lake’ Review: Not Just Another Baltimore Mystery

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      Natalie Portman stars in an elaborate adaptation of Laura Lippman’s novel about a pair of 1960s murders.If you’ve read Laura Lippman’s novel “Lady in the Lake,” about a pair of murders in Baltimore in the 1960s, you will know right away that the Apple TV+ mini-series based on it has taken liberties. The Thanksgiving parade that opens the action is not in the book; neither is the man dressed as a mailbox whom we see relieving himself in an alley before resuming his place in the procession.It is a small moment characteristic of the writer and director Alma Har’el’s exhaustive reworking of Lippman’s twisty but fairly straightforward 2019 mystery. It is visually striking and nimbly staged: the powder blue and rusty red shades of the mailbox costume set against the dingy alley, the camera following the dancer in his bulky carapace as he awkwardly capers back to the parade. It’s diversely suggestive: of the distant period (mail!), of the bleak season, of a still strong civic self-regard. And it’s just there — cool and quirky, with no real weight, gone when the figure rounds the corner into the street.The prodigiously talented Har’el has worked extensively in commercials and music videos and made several documentaries, including the evocative “Bombay Beach,” filmed at the Salton Sea. Before “Lady in the Lake,” her only major fictional work was the terrific feature “Honey Boy,” written by and starring her sometime collaborator Shia LaBeouf. Based on LaBeouf’s life, it explored the porous boundaries between fantasy and real life, between performance and ordinary behavior.“Lady in the Lake,” which premiered with two of its seven episodes on Friday, has some similar ideas. But working as creator, director and primary writer, Har’el doesn’t manage to pull them together. The show is visually striking and full of sensuous atmosphere. But the ideas it is trying to put across about the wages of race, class and gender in a particular place and time don’t really translate from script to screen, and Har’el’s baroque elaborations on Lippman’s solid mystery plot start to feel increasingly artificial, in a tinselly, uninteresting way.Lippman’s novel (the recipient of a rave review in The New York Times by Stephen King) tied together two fictional cases inspired by real events, the murders of a Jewish girl and a Black woman. Her main character is a Jewish housewife and frustrated writer in Baltimore, Maddie Schwartz (nee Morgenstern), who exploits the deaths to embark on a new career as a newspaper reporter; Maddie’s reinvention also involves leaving her husband and son and having an affair with a Black cop.Har’el conflates some significant characters and adds and subtracts others while adhering, until the later episodes, to the major points of the plot. But she is less interested in that plot than in the themes of storytelling — who gets to tell the stories of Tessie, the Jewish girl, and Cleo, the Black woman — and broken dreams. Cleo’s dream of being a singer has gone unrealized, but Maddie’s dream of being a writer will be gained on the back of Cleo’s death.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 Fortress’: A Norwegian Export About the Danger of Closed Borders

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      Both sociopolitical thriller and parable, this Viaplay series presents a future that can feel uncomfortably plausible.In “The Fortress,” a new series about pandemic, isolationism and government corruption, something is rotten in the state of Norway. The year is 2037, and the country has spent the last decade cut off from the rest of the world, behind a wall of its own making. When a deadly virus sweeps through the land, the prime minister blames refugees for bringing the illness to an insulated paradise.But in this case, the menace is a domestic breed. And the government will do anything to cover up its origins.A sociopolitical thriller and a parable, “The Fortress,” a seven-part Norwegian series, made its American debut on Tuesday, the latest in a wave of Scandinavian dramas cresting on American shores in recent years that tend to be brainy, rooted in reality and, yes, chilly. (This one is available on Viaplay.)It is also timely — dystopian and futuristic but only just, playing off the rising tide of isolationism in Europe and around the world in these post-pandemic, post-Brexit, “build the wall” times.“Our main theme is that to solve the world’s problems, everybody needs everybody,” said John Kare Raake, a co-creator of the show and its lead writer, in a video interview from his home in Oslo. “We can’t just say, ‘That’s not our problem.’ We have to work together and decide that we can relate to problems in other countries that are not at our doorstep.”With a star-filled cast and an award-winning script (it won best screenplay last year at the Series Mania festival in Europe), “The Fortress” is a high-profile venture for Viaplay, a Swedish-based streamer that made its North American debut only last year. The show’s assortment of characters representing the different strata of Norwegian society are played by some heavy hitters of international drama.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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      Jimmy Fallon Finds Bright Side of Biden Testing Positive for Covid

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      “It’s the first positive news he’s had in months,” Fallon said on Thursday.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.A Positive for BidenPresident Joe Biden tested positive for Covid on Wednesday, forcing him to cancel campaign events and self-isolate.“On the bright side, it’s the first positive news he’s had in months,” Jimmy Fallon said on Thursday.“Yep, Biden had fatigue, a cough and brain fog — and then he got Covid.” — JIMMY FALLON“President Biden tested positive yesterday for Covid-19. On the plus side, everyone around him was already distancing.” — SETH MEYERS“Biden has Covid, which is no joke for a man of his age, especially because this is an unusual strain where the brain fog hits you three weeks ago.” — JORDAN KLEPPER, guest host of “The Daily Show”“Thankfully, Biden is expected to make a full recovery, and his doctor said that he’ll be back to 60 percent in no time.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Punchiest Punchlines (Matt Gaetz’s New Face Edition)“Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz spoke last night at the Republican National Convention. When reached for comment, he couldn’t get his phone to unlock.” — SETH MEYERS“I mean, he looks like he’s trying to be an NBA player’s third wife.” — ANTHONY ANDERSON, guest host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live”“It looks like his eyebrows are reacting to a picture of his eyebrows.” — JORDAN KLEPPERThe Bits Worth WatchingThe James Beard-winning barbecue master Kevin Bludso showed Guillermo and the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” guest host Anthony Anderson how to apply dry rub to dino ribs and pork shoulder on Thursday.Also, Check This OutFrom left, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos and Glen Powell in “Twisters.”Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures & Amblin EntertainmentDaisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell star in “Twisters,” the new stand-alone sequel to the hit 1996 tornado-themed thriller “Twister.” More

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      Bob Newhart Stayed Funny His Entire Life

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      He basically invented the stand-up special in 1960 and continued to be a source of comic brilliance until his final years.Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy.Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.Onstage, he didn’t curse, bust taboos or show anger. His style was gentle and wry. As opposed to motormouth contemporaries like Lenny Bruce or Mort Sahl, his defining trait was a cheerful, sloth-paced delivery, stammering, pausing, gradually, meticulously working his way through a sentence. He belonged to neither of the great branches of American humor — the legacies of Jewish or Black comedy. A Roman Catholic from the west side of Chicago, Newhart came off as an entirely respectable example of Midwestern nice.Newhart brought his own kind of neurosis, a comedy rooted in nuanced deadpan and silence. He was exasperated, clinging to sanity. He wasn’t one to get revenge in a joke. When I met him at his home for an interview tied to his 90th birthday, he had no scores to settle, no grievances or assumptions he was looking to upend. He was even humble and magnanimous talking about death, saying he thought he knew what awaited him after he passed away, but wasn’t sure. Then he joked about a comic who famously (and unfairly) accused him of stealing a bit: “Maybe I’ll come back as Shelley Berman and be pissed at myself.”Bob Newhart could occasionally get lumped in with the “sick comics” of the mid-20th century and his early work did have a political, even slangy edge. One of his signature bits, where an advertising man coaches Abraham Lincoln before the Gettysburg Address, was a pointed critique of the cynicism of professional politics. “Hi, Abe, sweetheart” begins the man from Madison Avenue, who encourages him to work in a plug for an Abraham Lincoln T-shirt. When the president says he wants to change “four score and seven years ago” to “87,” the ad man first patiently explains they already test marketed this in Erie. Then he says: “It’s sort of like Mark Antony saying “Friends, Romans, countrymen, I’ve got something I want to tell you.”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 ‘Newhart’ Finale Is One of Bob Newhart’s Crowning Achievements

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      The finale has become so famous in part because it offered a rare moment of real surprise from a taped prime-time television sitcom.Open any search engine you like and type in these words: “best TV finales.” Scroll through the dozens — heck, hundreds — of articles written about which shows really “stuck the landing,” delivering the kind finish that fans still talk about.The “Newhart” finale should be on nearly all of those lists. For its last few minutes alone, “Newhart” deserves emeritus status on every roundup of best TV endings, best TV moments, funniest pranks, you name it. In perpetuity.What makes it an all-timer? One knockout of a punchline.For eight seasons — from 1982 to 1990 — Bob Newhart entertained millions on “Newhart,” playing Dick Loudon, a how-to book author and the co-owner of a quaint Vermont inn with his wife Joanna (Mary Frann). The success of “Newhart” was especially remarkable given that Newhart had already had a long run on TV in “The Bob Newhart Show,” which ran for six seasons, also on CBS, from 1972 to 1978.He had spent those six years playing Bob Hartley, a Chicago psychologist who coped with his kooky patients with the help of his loving wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette). These two characters, Loudon and Hartley, both drew on Newhart’s stand-up comedy persona: the stammering, muttering everyman, delivering hilariously deadpan reactions to the madness of modern life.The “Newhart” finale bridged the gap between the two shows, with an ending that had Dick Loudon getting knocked out by a golf ball in Vermont and then waking up in a Chicago bedroom as Bob Hartley, with Emily by his side. The implication was that the entire run of “Newhart” had been Bob’s dream. On the night of the finale’s taping, the “Newhart” studio audience whooped in delight.Most of the series finale was a seemingly straightforward “Newhart” episode. With, foreground from left, Newhart, Mary Frann, Gedde Watanabe and Tom Poston.CBS, via Everett CollectionWe 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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      Where to Stream Bob Newhart’s Greatest TV and Movie Performances

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      Newhart, who died on Thursday, became a standup star in the early 1960s and later developed two hit sitcoms built around his nervous Everyman persona.The legend of Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at 94, holds that he was once just an ordinary Chicago accountant who honed a stand-up act in his spare time. Overnight, the story goes — almost accidentally — he became a Grammy-winning sensation with his debut album, “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart,” a collection of one-man sketches in which he play-acts one half of funny conversations.That story is exaggerated. Newhart worked in advertising for longer than he did in accounting; and his showbiz ambitions were never just an afterthought. It is true, though, that Newhart rocketed to the top because he innately understood a certain midcentury Middle American type: the meek and anxious Everyman, overwhelmed by a world that sometimes seems deeply weird.Newhart first made good use of that understanding onstage in comedy clubs, where he became a phenomenon in the early 1960s, setting him up for a thriving career in that decade as a variety show and talk show guest. He then played variations on his stand-up character in two hit sitcoms: “The Bob Newhart Show” through much of the ’70s and “Newhart,” which ran from 1982 to 1990.By the 21st century, he had settled into emeritus status, reviving his old routines in concerts while doing his beloved shtick in supporting roles in movies and on TV. Here are six of Newhart’s most memorable performances, all available to stream:‘Bob Newhart: Off the Record’ (1992)The best way to understand how a “button-down” office drone became a perennial presence on TV is to watch this comedy special, in which Newhart revisits some of his earliest stand-up routines. At the time, these bits were over 30 years old, but they still — even today — get laughs. “Off the Record” shows one of the best-ever comics doing his thing: delivering one side of ludicrous phone calls and chats while giving the audience just enough information to imagine what is happening on the other end. In doing his bits about ordinary schmoes in extraordinary situations — such as crossing paths with King Kong or consulting with Abe Lincoln — Newhart spoofs the language of American life.Rent or buy it on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.‘The Bob Newhart Show’ (1972-78)After Newhart’s decade-plus of stand-up success and frequent TV guest gigs, the writer-producer team of David Davis and Lorenzo Music finally figured out how to harness his comic persona in a sitcom. In their “The Bob Newhart Show,” the comedian plays Bob Hartley, a Chicago psychologist managing the neuroses of his patients and the frustrations of his oft-neglected wife, Emily (Suzanne Pleshette). The show’s premise allows Newhart to make great use of his deadpan reactions, witty remarks and nervous stammer — all opposite a crack cast of funny character actors. But the real reason the series ran for so long is the star’s chemistry with Pleshette. Their easy banter and obvious affection make even a chilly Windy City feel inviting.Buy it on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV or Vudu.‘Newhart’ (1982-90)A few years after ending one popular, long-running sitcom, Newhart moved on to another. In “Newhart,” he plays Dick Loudon, a successful how-to book author who buys a quaint Vermont inn to run with his wife, Joanna (Mary Frann). Though again surrounded by eccentrics, Newhart’s character — and his approach to comedy — is subtly different here than in “The Bob Newhart Show.” Over the course of the series, Dick essentially becomes another one of those small-town kooks, with his own stubborn tics and habits. The show is plenty charming, even as it relies more on wackiness than warmth.Stream it on Amazon Prime Video.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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      Bob Newhart, Soft-Spoken Everyman Who Became a Comedy Star, Dies at 94

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      He was a show-business neophyte when he stammered his way to fame in 1960. He went on to star in two of TV’s most memorable sitcoms.Bob Newhart, who burst onto the comedy scene in 1960 working a stammering Everyman character not unlike himself, then rode essentially that same character through a long, busy career that included two of television’s most memorable sitcoms, died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94.His publicist, Jerry Digney, confirmed the death.Mr. Newhart wasn’t merely unknown a few months before his emergence as a full-fledged star; he was barely in the business, though he had aspirations. In 1959, some comic tapes he had made to amuse himself while working as an accountant in Chicago caught the ear of an executive at Warner Bros. Records, which in 1960 released the comedy album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.”The record shot to No. 1 on the charts, and at the 1961 Grammy Awards it improbably captured the top prize, album of the year. Among the nominees Mr. Newhart bested: Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte and Frank Sinatra.He won two other Grammys that year as well, for best new artist and best spoken-word comedy performance, an honor that was given not to his first album but to his second, a hastily made follow-up titled “The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!” For a while, his first two albums occupied the top two spots on the Billboard album chart.“Playboy magazine hailed me ‘the best new comedian of the decade,’” Mr. Newhart wrote in his autobiography, “I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This: And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny” (2006), describing this period. “Of course, there were still nine more years left in the decade.”A Quick TransitionUnlike many entertainers who achieve fame almost overnight, Mr. Newhart was able to handle the unexpected success of the “Button-Down Mind” albums. He transitioned quickly and easily into television, landing a short-lived variety show, numerous guest appearances on the shows of Dean Martin and Ed Sullivan, regular work guest-hosting for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” and, ultimately, “The Bob Newhart Show,” a celebrated sitcom in which he played a somewhat befuddled psychologist.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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      ‘My Lady Jane’ Is a Sly and Sassy Historical Comedy

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      Inspired by the very (very) brief reign of Queen Jane, the Amazon series has fun rewriting Tudor history — complete with magical creatures.“My Lady Jane,” whose eight-episode first season is available now, on Amazon, seems to be in the vein of “The Great” or “Bridgerton,” irreverent historical fiction with aggressively contemporary mores and scores. But it is perhaps better understood as a fantasy comedy because not only does it break with history, it breaks with reality: It is Tudor palace intrigue with shape-shifting, a joyful and breathless more-more-more. A lot of “Jane” adheres, happily, to genre conventions, but it is done with a well-pitched playfulness. Even the stained glass in so many of the backgrounds has a funfetti color scheme.Our heroine is Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader), a multilingual genius and healer who is at the mercy of a harsh mother (Anna Chancellor) and a cruel system. “I will do everything in my power to get out of this marriage,” she swears. “Jane, you have no power,” her mother replies. Well, we’ll see about that.Jane’s power comes from her intelligence, resolve and pluck, but some folks around her have another power: ethians, scorned and abused by conventional humans, known as verity, can turn into animals. Jane’s trusty maid (Mairead Tyers) is also a hawk, and now that you mention it, that dog hanging around does seem unusually nosy. If you’re ever confused about how it all works, frequent snarky narration fills in the blanks and adds to the show’s cheeky charm.“Jane” takes its historicity lightly and chemistry seriously. Jane is forced to marry the smug Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel), and over the course of the season, they have a real Chuck and Blair pas de deux, an inevitable enemies-to-lovers arc made festive with seething and swordplay. Jane’s more dangerous nemesis is Mary (Kate O’Flynn), a scheming loose cannon with an always-a-bridesmaid complex, and when the two battle — sometimes physically, sometimes verbally, sometimes just with stare-downs — the whole show trembles.Early in the season, one of the more sheltered characters learns about flipping the bird and gets a huge thrill from deploying the gesture, which becomes a little running joke through the show. Is this the most mature experience a person can have? I guess not. But assessing a situation — a rude person, a flawed monarchy or even a well-worn TV subgenre — and deciding that what it truly merits is a grand one-finger salute? Ah, what a rush. More