Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, October 11th, 2024

What to watch this weekend

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, October 11th, 2024:

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND
There are a lot of new, mostly worthwhile things to check out this weekend. Here are a few highlights:

Sweetpea (Starz)
The problem with shows that center around morally ambiguous characters is that more often than not, audiences are left with an ambiguous feeling about the characters and the series. That's a problem that intermittently plagues Sweetpea, a six-episode British comedy starring Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), who plays Rhiannon Lewis, a 26-year-old low-level assistant to a small-town newspaper editor. She's dismissed by her boss, overlooked by her coworkers and ignored by the world. But when she lashes out one day in violence at some perceived slight, she discovers that the violence frees her and provides the confidence she's been yearning for.

The show never quite decides if Rhiannon is truly a monster or simply a misguided loner who mistakenly gravitates towards a series of bad decisions. And there are moments that suggest she's not as alone as she believes. And in fact, the problem may be more with her than with the world at large.

I can't say I loved the show, but I didn't hate it. And there are enough memorable moments and misplaced attitude to make it worth checking out.

Disclaimer (Apple TV+)
If Apple TV+ has a house editorial style, it is shows such as this one that feature top-line acting talent in a complex and mildly critical story about the beautiful, the powerful and the gifted.

If you've seen the trailer, you already know the parameters of the overall story arc. Cate Blanchett’s plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a journalist and documentary filmmaker who is equally measures talented and soulless. She's married to an overmatched husband and has a teenage son whose emotional troubles seem to elude his mother. She's living a celebrated, comfortable life until a new novel arrives that tells a slightly fictionalized story out of her life. Years earlier, she had an affair with a much younger man. And when the man drowned saving her young son, she lied and told the police she had never seen him before.

Honestly, you don't need to know anymore about the show in order to decide whether or not it's for you. Although I'll add that Kevin Kline is as good in this series as I've ever seen him. And although the series is based on a 2015 novel by Renee Knight, writer/director Alfonso Cuarón's influence is in every scene, in one exquisitely composed shot after another.

The show is fine, but it's not really my thing. But if you thought that 2022’s Oscar-nominated Tar was wildly captivating, then Disclaimer will hit your sweet spot.

The Secret Of The River (Netflix)
This eight-episode drama was created and written by Alberto Barrera, who spent several decades working on mostly Venezuelan telenovelas. The result is a magnificently layered and slow-burning drama that at first glance is about the growing friendship between two boys living in a small Mexican town who become involved in a mysterious death. But by the end of the season, the show has spread across several decades and touched on everything from betrayal and corruption to the search for representation and becoming your true self. I really enjoyed the show, in part because it painted a world that was very new to me. Here is my complete review of the series.

Teacup (Peacock)
The argument for streamers releasing new episodes on a weekly basis is that it allows viewers to ponder each new episode and encourages buzz about the series. At least in theory. It also allows streamers with a limited budget for scripted originals to spread out the new stuff over an extended period.

The argument against that is that in the case of streamers that aren't regular destinations, it can be easy for viewers to forget to tune back in each week. They often end up remembering weeks later, giving themselves the accidental equivalent of a binge release. And to be honest, there are some shows that are best viewed in one or two big episode dumps.

Teacup is one of those shows and there's a case to be made that releasing the show in two four-episode drops would minimize the likelihood of audience tune-out.

The series is essentially The Thing, but in the woods. Mysterious things happen, it's hard to know who to trust or what step to next in order to survive. It's a well-acted, but also familiar premise. But it's done so well, you'll likely get caught up in the relentless suspenseful energy of it all. But in episode five, something happens. The audience will learn the origins of the outbreak and the show moves into this unexpectedly sci-fi direction. And while I don't want to give anything away, I will say that I suspect many of the viewers who have lasted up until then will not be pleased.

The thing is, the problems with the back trio of episodes isn't as obvious if you're watching multiple episodes. The energy and unpredictability of the show carries you easily into the next episode and then the next. But I have a suspicion that a percentage of the audience who made it that far will decide to put the show aside and wait to catch up at some other time when they have nothing else to watch.

TWEET OF THE DAY (AND CLEARLY I AM NOT ON THE OVERSEAS TRAVEL JUNKET LIST)

ODDS AND SODS
* Reality Blurred's Andy Dehnart is exclusively reporting in his newsletter that NatGeo has canceled its long-running series Life Below Zero and it will end after its current 23rd season. The network has already canceled its other Life Below Zero spin-off shows and moved several of those people onto this season of the mother series.

* The linear true crime channel Investigation Discovery is premiering three new shows in November.

* Warner Bros Sweden has found a creative way to promote Joker: Folie à Deux.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND THIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11TH:
* Daddy's Head (Shudder)
* Disclaimer Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Dragon Ball Daima Series Premiere (Crunchyroll/Hulu)
* Heather McMahan: Breadwinner (Hulu)
* In Her Place (Netflix)
* Latinos In Hollywood: Owning Our Destiny (ABC)
* Lonely Planet (Netflix)
* Mr. Crocket (Hulu)
* Spellbound (Hulu)
* Sweetpea Series Premiere (Starz)
* The Confidante Series Premiere (Max)
* The Last Of The Sea Women (Apple TV+)
* Uprising (Netflix)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12TH:
* A Virtuous Business Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Demon Lord 2099 Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
* Haunted Wedding (Hallmark)
* Nobody Dumps My Daughter (Lifetime)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13TH:
* Family Secrets: The Disappearance Of Alissa Turney (Oxygen)
* Shangri-La Frontier (Crunchyroll)
* Tales From The Void Series Premiere (Screambox)
* The Killer I Picked Up (Lifetime)
* Tracker Season Two Premiere (CBS)
* 2024 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards (Shudder)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14TH:
* Arifureta: From Commonplace To World's Strongest (Crunchyroll)
* Barney's World Series Premiere (Max) 
* Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune Season Premiere (ABC)
* Family Guy Halloween Episode (Hulu)
* Mighty MonsterWheelies Series Premiere (Netflix)
* NCIS Season Twenty-Two Premiere (CBS)
* NCIS: Origins Series Premiere (CBS)
* Press Your Luck Season Premiere (ABC)
* The Patrick Star Show: Something Stupid This Way Comes (Nickelodeon)
* The Wranglers Series Premiere (The CW)

SEE YOU ON MONDAY!