tv reviews: Last News

Apple TV+ drama premiering March 15 and starring Tobias Menzies as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s confidant who led the search for his killer. It’s adapted from James L.

Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle series that premiered on Netflix Tuesday is getting dragged by critics — and then some.The eight-episode show, produced by Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell Productions, features the Duchess of Sussex, 43, showing off her cooking and gardening skills at home in Montecito, Calif. with appearances by some of her celebrity friends including Mindy Kaling.The Guardian TV writer Stuart Heritage called the series “pointless” and said it should be the couple’s “last TV show.”Markle and Harry, 40, signed a $100 million deal with the streamer in 2020.

the previous two seasons, and may be divisive. Nevertheless, when “True Detective” had a bad season, it was unwatchable.

“Game of Thrones” prequel series, “House of the Dragon” returns for Season 2 after a long wait (Season 1 aired in 2022 and did gangbusters, with around 29 million viewers tuning in weekly). Premiering Sunday, June 16 on HBO (9 p.m.) and streaming on Max, the story picks up where Season 1 left off, following Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) ancestors around 200 years before the original show. Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) is supposed to be Queen, as her late father, King Viserys (Paddy Considine), named her as his heir before he died in the first season.

podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” The show follows O’Brien, 60, as he visits “friends” that he’s made (aka, fans who have called into his podcast). The result is a travel show that feels self indulgent, at times – as all celebrity travel shows often do – but it’s also entertaining and provides an off-beat and quirky look into a variety of countries.

“Franklin,” an eight-part series premiering April 12 on Apple TV+.“Franklin” tells the story of 70-year-old Ben Franklin’s secret diplomatic mission to France in 1776 to gain French support (money, arms) for America’s fight against the British in the Revolutionary War. There are a lot of moving parts here, so viewers would be apprised to pay attention as Franklin navigates French high society — and politics — in an effort to achieve his goal.The series is based on the book “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America” by Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy Schiff.As the series opens, Franklin — commissioned by Congress to undertake his clandestine journey across the Atlantic — has no diplomatic experience.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” ended its storied run on HBO.That’s because “Hapless,” premiering April 10 on Peacock, is extremely similar in tone and context to “Curb,” with a few exceptions — and is even described as a “cringe comedy” a la Larry David’s masterpiece.Season 1 of “Hapless” streamed very briefly on Prime Video in early 2020 (under the title “The Jewish Enquirer”) and is getting a shot now on Peacock (Seasons 1 and 2), hoping to fill the void left in the wake of “Curb’s” final episode, which aired April 7. The series was created, written and directed by Gary Sinyor; unlike Larry David on “Curb,” our “Hapless” series protagonist/antagonist Paul Green (Tim Downie, “Outlander”) isn’t a celebrity playing an exaggerated version of himself — he’s a reporter for The Jewish Enquirer, described as the “4th biggest Jewish publication” in the UK, who finds himself in awkward situations, most of them of his own making.

The Chevy Chase Show” premiered Sept. 7, 1993, on Fox — a week after “The Late Show With David Letterman” dropped on CBS — and was canned six weeks (and 29 episodes) into its run.Chase, whose movie career was on the skids after a string of flops (“Nothing But Trouble,” “Memoirs of Invisible Man”) was not Fox’s first choice to host its first foray into late-night following “The Joan Rivers Show” — which lasted seven months from October 1986 to May 1997 — and “The Wilton-North Report,” a hybrid sketch-comedy/talk show that aired for four weeks.Fox wanted Dolly Parton as its late-night star but her manager, who also represented Chase, recommended him. Chase, who was 18 years past his initial “Saturday Night Live” fame, was reportedly paid $3 million, and Fox spent another $1 million renovating the Aquarius Theater in LA — renaming it The Chevy Chase Theater.

Sackler family (who have also inspired shows such as Hulu’s “Dopestick” and Netflix’s “Painkiller”). The result should please fans of Flannagan’s past works (“The Haunting of Hill House,” “Midnight Mass”), and it also has a dash of “Succession” thrown in.

pretentious quips and drinking sherry wine in Boston. The Paramount+ revival of “Frasier” premiered Thursday — with one original character noticeably absent.The late John Mahoney — who portrayed Frasier’s retired police office father Martin Crane in the 1993 series — wasn’t sitting in his iconic yellow stripped chair anymore.The famed actor, known for “Say Anything,” “Hot in Cleveland,” and his stage work, died in 2018 at the age of 77.However, his legacy stayed strong, and the revival paid tribute to him in the pilot episode that dropped on Oct.

Wayans, 40, told The Post. “Every time someone does well in the trivia round … if you ever see me go, ‘Oh, that’s awesome’ it’s because I was like, ‘I could never have done that.’I’m not crazy-dyslexic but when it comes to trivia I’d be screwed.”Wayans and Jeannie Mai Jenkins host “Raid the Cage,” premiering Oct.

the 1954 big-screen classic starring Humphrey Bogart as Lieutenant Commander Philip Queeg, he of the nervously-twirled metal balls and questionable sanity.The movie premieres Oct. 6 on Paramount+ with Showtime (paramountplus.qflm.net/9WG5D0) — and Oct. 8 on Showtime (9 p.m.) — and features an all-star cast, including Kiefer Sutherland as Queeg and the late Lance Reddick, all of whom deliver bravura performances.

The Boys” and premiering Sept. 29 on Prime Video, unfolds in that same anarchic loony-toons superhero universe. “The Boys” premiered in 2019 and has yet to waiver in delivering high satire, surrealism and ultra-violence wrapped in a spot-on commentary on American mores and politics in the 21st century (particularly on our preoccupation with social media).

Documentary maker Louis Theroux, 51, on a ’pleasing’ new take on Tupac, his bromance with Joe Wicks and the far right in the US.It was very nice. It’s more than two years since we began planning these programmes. I love being out and about, meeting the people I do.