Five temporary TV escapes from reality

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This article was published 25/03/2025 (555 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If art will, indeed, save us, these five very different shows have as good a chance as any to provide at least temporary relief from the current state of affairs.

The Studio

Series premières with two episodes Wednesday on Apple TV+

To truly appreciate this new series about the inside of the Hollywood machine, it’s not strictly necessary to have a film degree, but it might help viewers spot the insider references — such as the name of Bryan Cranston’s baroque studio CEO, Griffin Mill, which just happens to have been the main character’s name in another look at the film business, Robert Altman’s scalding 1992 masterpiece, The Player.

It would also help in identifying the guest stars, who fly thick and fast throughout the 10-episode run, including Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Zac Efron, Charlize Theron and Anthony Mackie, to name a few.

But will it be too much inside baseball? Metacritic’s roundup of early reviews gives it an impressive average of 82 out of 100.

But critics, too, like to think of themselves as insiders, so take their views with a grain of overpriced Himalayan pink salt.

Still, it sounds promising: Seth Rogen (who does everything but hold the camera) stars as Matt, who’s just landed the only job he’s ever wanted: creative head of Continental Studios.

Only now everyone hates him and every decision he makes goes expensively south. Calming and goading him by turns are co-stars Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project) and Kathryn Hahn (Tiny Beautiful Things).

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Mid-Century Modern

Series premières with all episodes Friday, March 28, on Disney+

If ever there were a time that demanded a 10-episode drop of a cosy, sweet, gay male update of The Golden Girls (1985-92, Disney+), it is right now.

This new take on chosen-family friendships is set in Palm Springs rather than the original Miami.

Standing in for the old series’ Rue McClanahan, Betty White, Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty are three “old friends, new roommates” played by Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer and Nathan Lee Graham, living together with a wealthy, deliciously nasty elder mom (the late Linda Lavin).

Even the layout of the living room looks like the GG living room. Swoon!

Expect the comforting predictability of a classic sitcom courtesy of the creators (Will & Grace’s Max Mutchnick and David Kohan) and the GOAT of TV sitcom directors, James Burrows. Add to that some sharp-eyed twists courtesy of savvy executive producer Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, Feud).

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MobLand

Series premières with one episode on Sunday on Paramount+

Ultra-violent, ultra-profane, ultra-good Guy Ritchie (The Gentlemen, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) is back with another series, this one about Mob families at war in London.

Also trademark Ritchie is a solid lineup of talent, including Pierce Brosnan (Die Another Day), Tom Hardy (Venom), Helen Mirren (The Queen), Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey) and Gemma Knight Jones (Going Dutch).

“We shake the right hands,” says Brosnan’s patriarch, Conrad Harrigan, “and break the wrong ones.”

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The Bondsman

Series premières with all eight episodes on Thursday, April 3, on Prime Video

Hub Halloran (Kevin Bacon of City on a Hill) is a bail bondsman who is not living his best life.

Good news? That life is over. Bad news? He wakes up dead to discover his afterlife job and life suck just as bad.

But, there is a slim chance to not only redeem his soul and find true love but… to reanimate his country music career! What a world!

This magic bullet of comic horror and guitar gore also stars Beth Grant (Dollface) and Jolene Purdy (Orange Is the New Black).

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Pulse

Medical drama premières all 10 episodes on Thursday, April 3, on Netflix

Are you already loving Crave’s medical drama The Pitt, starring Noah Wyle in a shift from hell at a Pittsburgh hospital exploding at the seams? It is harrowingly excellent and there are four more episodes, with the No. 15 season finale dropping April 10. But Pulse is aiming more toward the Grey’s Anatomy end of the medical drama spectrum. And hey, there’s room for all comers. The story: romantically entangled residents (Willa Fitzgerald and Colin Woodell) at a Miami trauma centre are tested by an accusation of workplace impropriety and a promotion. And Hurricane Abby. And a lockdown, power outages and a lot of bickering. Sounds both overwrought and underdeveloped, but Justina Machado (One Day at a Time) plays the boss doctor and she deserves at least two episodes.

 

Broadcast dates subject to change. Questions, comments to denise.duguay@winnipegfreepress.com.