The first trailer for the psychological thriller Surface lets viewers dip their toes into the central mystery of the upcoming series: What if you woke up one day and didn’t know your own secrets?
The show premiers on Apple TV+ in late July, and stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, best known for appearing in Apple’s critically acclaimed The Morning Show.
Apple is working on a new HomePod that could launch next year with a new S8 chip. The smart speaker reportedly will be similar in size to the original HomePod rather than the HomePod mini.
Apple is also working on a powerful new Apple TV with an A14 chip and more RAM.
★★★★☆
Apple TV+ murder mystery Now and Then draws to a simmering close this week.
Pedro has lost his campaign, but there’s always more to lose. Ana is ready to turn on him. Sofia’s troubles catch up with her. Marcos suspects his father. Flora suspects her best friend. Hugo suspects Sofia. And there’s only an hour to wrap things up.
It’s been a marvelous bit of sensationalism from start to finish. If we get a second season of this bilingual thriller, it will be a welcome development.
★★★☆☆
Apple TV+ alt-history hit For All Mankind makes all the right moves this week, then immediately blows a 26-point lead in the last inning.
For once, the dramatic arcs thrown at Margo, Karen, Dev, Aleida and Kelly all seem pretty satisfying and not at all cheap or hyperbolic. Then the writers ensure we won’t see how any of that plays out, instantly turning this from one of the show’s best episodes into its most frustrating yet.
But hey, at least we’re going to Mars, I guess.
★★☆☆☆
This week on Apple TV+ aerobics opera Physical, its star self-help guru buys a whiteboard and the show itself backslides. After a promising showing last week, Physical reverts to its worst tendencies.
Danny is still unbearably pretentious and selfish. Sheila is still a misanthropic jerk to absolutely everybody. John is becoming more desperate by the minute. And Greta indulges in a threesome. None of this constitutes real news or development on this show. But since Physical doesn’t really know what it wants to say, this is just how it goes most weeks.
★★★☆☆
In new Apple TV+ comedy Loot, Maya Rudolph plays a billionaire playgirl who must grow up and discover a conscience when she realizes that her public behavior casts her charitable foundation in a bad light.
Surrounded by misfits, she must tailor her wild lifestyle to more humble settings. Otherwise, she risks turning the one good thing in her life into a joke.
An episode of For All Mankind features some retro Apple tech that real people in the 1990s could only dream of: an Apple Newton with a color screen. And one that can make video calls!
A producer for the show explained the clever trick.
Watchful eyes have spotted code in the first two iOS 16 beta versions that appears to refer to an unreleased Siri Remote for Apple TV.
Information is scant, but chances are this is the new remote for a 4K Apple TV system with a updated price structure that could come out this year.
Apple TV+ took the wraps off a new trailer Thursday for the third season of the British comedy series Trying.
The new season, which shows signs of drama amidst the laughs, premieres July 22.
The new Apple TV+ trailer for the drama series Five Days at Memorial is just a one-minute preview. But it’s a powerful 60 seconds.
It depicts the desperate struggle in a New Orleans hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest storms to ever hit the United States.
For All Mankind is one of the most popular shows available on streaming, according to a ratings tracker. Season three of the alternate-history sci-fi series premiered on Apple TV+ in early June, and it’s been a Top 10 show both weeks since then.
Critics praise the series, too, so it’s doubly a success for Apple’s streaming service.
Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo will take the leads as police detectives in Criminal Record, a thriller series coming to Apple TV+.
It will be set in racially charged and politically polarized modern London.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Erfon’s warming up to Apple’s new M2 chip. New benchmarks make it sound even more capable than we thought.
Also on The CultCast:
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★★☆☆☆
In the season finale of Apple TV+ spy drama Tehran, Peyman is dead — and everyone is guilty.
Milad and Tamar need to patch up their frayed relationship if they have any hope of escaping the country and certain death. Marjan and Faraz must make sure they don’t look guilty as the investigation into the “accidental” death of the son of the head of the Revolutionary Guard commences.
And there’s still the matter of Peyman’s father, Qassem, whom Tamar swore to kill. Now, she has next to no shot at getting near him. It’s a lot of ground to cover in 43 minutes. And there’s still the more difficult task of making any of these people compelling enough to want to see them in a third season.
★★★★☆
Line ’em up, it’s Election Day on Now and Then, the Apple TV+ telenovela about the fallout from a 20-year-old murder case.
Pedro and Ana wait with bated breath to see if he won the mayoral election, while Ernesto gives him an ultimatum and Francis offers her a job. Marcos and Sofia plot their escape, Flora schedules a surgery, Hugo’s awake from his coma, and Sullivan’s been keeping secrets from everybody.
The plot is thick and the drama delicious this week.
★★☆☆☆
Apple TV+ documentary series Home returns Friday for a second season of wonky architecture and human interest stories. The streamer is banking on the beauty of accessibility as spectacle and drama to bring audiences back for more feel-good TV.
The houses the series showcases look glorious, to be sure. But the stories are meant to be as much of a hook as the sight of impossible angles and cozy nooks nestled in wondrous corners of the earth.
★★☆☆☆
For All Mankind heads to Mars a little sooner than expected this week — and with a surprise guest in the cockpit.
Danielle and Ed, then Molly and Margo, fall out. Karen and Ed fall into business together. Aleida worries about her family from the moon. And Danny Stevens is still a little psychopath.
It’s business as usual on Apple TV+’s frustrating space-exploration soap. The highs of last week’s TV movie of the week detour are already forgotten.
★★☆☆☆
Apple TV+’s Physical, about a would-be fitness guru in California, heads to a funeral this week to rethink its priorities. Sheila’s finally cracking up, John’s lies catch up with him in a sad way, Bunny is at the end of her tether, and a vengeful mother gets her hooks into two generations of women.
A couple of standout performances lift this week’s episode out of the usual doldrums. Rose Byrne is allowed to stretch a bit beyond the usual limitations of her role as Sheila Rubin — and the result is a glimpse into a better version of what this show could be.
☆☆☆☆☆
Only moments ago Cooper Raiff was a niche figure, someone you could avoid with a little effort. But now, he is the filmgoing public’s problem, thanks to Cha Cha Real Smooth, which premieres Friday on Apple TV+.
Writer/director/actor Raiff’s excruciating 2020 feature debut, Shithouse, captured enough viewers and earned enough praise to garner him a second chance to waste our time with the equally galling and charmless Cha Cha Real Smooth.
Apple TV+ paid an absurd amount of money for this garbage film. Unfortunately, the big gamble on this “Sundance hit” landed the streaming service an indifferently directed trifle starring a weaselly narcissist.
Apple TV+ today revealed the premiere date for Five Days at Memorial, a harrowing medical drama set amidst the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Its global launch is August 12
And the dark comedy/murder mystery Bad Sisters will hit Apple’s streaming service a week later.
When Apple TV 4K launched last year, it had fans salivating. But not for the sharper picture or faster processor. It was the new Siri Remote that caught everyone’s eye. Had Cupertino finally made a TV remote control that didn’t suck?
With its iPod-style scroll wheel, the second-generation Siri Remote promised to make scrolling through content effortless. In reality, the scroll wheel turned out to be hard to use, and lacked support from third-party apps like YouTube.
But don’t throw your remote at the TV just yet. When you get the hang of its quirks, the Siri Remote scroll wheel works surprisingly well. And you can use it with loads of essential apps, including Netflix, HBO Max and, of course, Apple TV+.
Cupertino unveiled a major new sports deal Tuesday, saying Apple TV will be the exclusive streaming destination for all Major League Soccer (MLS) games for 10 years, starting with the 2023 season.
Unlike Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+, watching many soccer games will require a separate subscription to an MLS streaming service, available exclusively through the Apple TV app. But some of the biggest matches will air on Apple TV+, as well.
The first season of the alternate-history sci-fi series For All Mankind is now available to enjoy without an Apple TV+ subscription. Watching also doesn’t require an Apple device.
The promotion coincides with the launch of season three of the series.
★★★☆☆
Apple TV+ period drama The Essex Serpent draws to an orderly close this week after five episodes of disorderly conduct, serpents (both metaphorical and real ones), love, death, betrayal, discovery and friendship.
The miniseries ends on a note that’s a bit of a letdown for how nicely it treats its pack of sinners, but I guess sometimes you have to give “the people” what they want. Ultimately, a great old-school tale of adventure and lust settles for neatness. Though that’s a hair upsetting to me, it was well worth the time it took to get here.
★★★★☆
Now and Then, the delightfully trashy Apple TV+ series about guilty friends committing new crimes to cover up old ones, heads straight into the gutter of desperation this week.
Sofia’s loan is due. Marcos’ wife is leaving him. Pedro’s lover is in jail, and he wants to throw the campaign. Ana is watching her future slip away. Hugo’s still in a coma. And Flora is off the case.
No one’s coming to these poor sinners’ rescue.