Girls5Eva returns, Bradley Cooper cameos, and more from this week in TV

Shōgun recap: The show tries out some new tricks in “The Eightfold Fence”

We’ve finally left the confines of Osaka Castle. Now we can get into some really rich stuff. A training montage? Sure, that’s in there. Sitting on a wooden deck in the rain drinking tea? That is definitely in there, and that’s the freaking dream. (I for one would love to play those scenes on a loop for myself as I type away on my laptop.) And tenderhearted friends, when I say it gets a bit gorier in this fourth episode of Shōgun, I really mean it. Read More

Invincible season 2, part 2 review: A bloody good time

At long last, Invincible is back for season two’s second half. After an annoying four-month hiatus, Prime Video’s superhero series flies into gear again on March 14, and unlike part one, there’s no slow building this time around. The four new installments are jam-packed with the gory action Invincible specializes in, feature some big twists (not news for readers of Robert Kirkman’s source material, of course), and rely on Steven Yeun’s poignant performance to anchor it all. Despite an unfocused pace, Invincible is still a smashing affair. Read More

Curb Your Enthusiasm recap: Of course Larry sees himself as Lincoln-esque

Have you noticed that a lot of scenes in Curb Your Enthusiasm involve meals of some kind? Well, that trend holds firm in this episode, too. (It’s not a problem, not a bad thing, but it is most definitely a thing.) To kick it off, Larry and Leon are at a buffet place called Shimon’s, and Leon is going nuts in there, his justification being “It says all you can eat, right? So you fucking eat.” Seated at their booth, Larry asks his friend if he has ever thought about the time people waste while peeing and whether we could hack that time to improve ourselves. (This comes back later.) Read More

Larry’s Broadway run is still the height of Curb Your Enthusiasm

After nearly a quarter century on HBO, Curb Your Enthusiasm and its curmudgeonly star haven’t changed much. Aside from the blotchy video look of early seasons, the only clear differentiation between years is Larry David’s salt-and-pepper horseshoe haircut giving way to white. Despite Curb’s consistent look throughout, there was a season when the show’s narrative evolved to new, absurd heights: season four, known colloquially as “the Producers season.” Read More

Alice & Jack review: Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson are caught in a bad romance

What is it about doomed love that makes for a great story? It’s transporting to watch two people go through it, discovering that what they’ve always wanted is no longer sufficient, that they’ve changed, and—to their dismay—that the love of their life has changed, too. In Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance juxtaposed the exhilarating beginning and the crushing end of a six-year relationship. Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story detailed the end of a rocky marriage and the beginning of the new lives that came afterward. We’ve been there; our personal experiences with great relationships and those that end in disaster make bad love stories hit us where we live with the force of a megaton bomb. Read More

Bradley Cooper caps weird Oscars run with a perfect Abbott Elementary cameo

Bradley Cooper has been gunning for gold for the past few months with a slightly bizarre Oscars campaign for Maestro. The actor, bless him, knows no other way—see also: The Star Is Born’s crusade—so his remarks this time around led to multiple tweets (fun!) and think-pieces (it’s truly not that serious, people). Deep down, Cooper probably knew he wasn’t going to walk away with an Academy Award on March 10. He may have lost to Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy, but he’s won lifelong bragging rights for something no other Best Actor nominee of the year can boast about (yet): He secured a cameo on Abbott Elementary. Read More

Girls5eva season 3 review: Netflix brings back an insanely fun show

A TV world without Girls5eva sounds dull as hell. And if it were up to Peacock, that’s the reality everyone would be living in. Thankfully, after the show was unceremoniously canceled two seasons in, Netflix renewed Meredith Scardino’s ingenious musical comedy. Its third season, which premieres March 14, instantly proves why it was worth saving, serving up a mix of laugh-out-loud jokes, delirious original songs, extraordinarily funny performances, and crafty cameos. Read More

Why are we such nostalgic TV viewers?

Picture the scene: You’ve come home from another grueling day at work—someone ate your sandwich from the communal fridge, didn’t they? Despite the sweet little note you left on it?—and you’ve plonked yourself down in front of the TV for a little R&R. You could watch the hit new show everyone’s raving about, sure, but it just feels like… well, it just feels like so much effort. Because wouldn’t it be easier to just, say, dive back into the warm bubble bath-esque nostalgia of something you know and love? Something that you likely know the words to by heart? Something that always acts as a soothing balm, no matter how rubbish you’re feeling? Read More

The Girls On The Bus review: Max’s political drama is an aggravating misfire

The intention behind The Girls On The Bus, which premieres March 14 on Max, is admirable. In it, four competing reporters in the throes of high-pressure political coverage form an unshakeable friendship while on the presidential campaign trail. That indeed has all the makings of a great message. The show’s timing, too, is incidentally perfect considering it’s also an election year in the United States. However, don’t expect the show to be realistic, despite its frustrating attempts to be relevant. For the most part, The Girls On The Bus is unfortunately committed to being far-fetched and overdramatic. Read More

Apples Never Fall review: This one’s for the put-upon moms

People love a good mystery, from true-crime podcasts to fictional page-turners like the Liane Moriarty novel on which Peacock’s miniseries Apples Never Fall, which premieres March 14, is based. There are certain tropes involved, familiar touchstones that, at this point, fans of the format have come to crave. For instance, these tales are almost invariably about a woman (the perfect wife/mother/girlfriend) turning up missing, and in true Dateline fashion, the husband is usually the prime suspect—such is the case in ANF as well. Seldom, though, is the missing woman anything other than young, beautiful, and white. Apples Never Fall examines what happens when the missing person is not a twenty-something knockout, but an old, beautiful, and white mother of grown children who’s retired and in her sixties. How much do we care then? Read More