CBS announced this week that "Mom" will end after its current season. Eight seasons is a good run for any comedy, especially one that's gone through as many changes as "Mom" has, and I hope it goes out with a bang. |
Have a safe and happy weekend. |
This weekend I have … a half-hour, and I need a pick-me-up |
 | | Nadiya Hussain makes pretzels on "Nadiya Bakes."Netflix |
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Nadiya Hussain, everyone's favorite winner of "The Great British Baking Show," has a new cooking series, and it's so sunny and cheery it might be the cure for seasonal, and perhaps even clinical, depression. "Baking really is my happy place," she says in the show's intro. But even if she hadn't, it's obvious in every frame of the show, whether she's chuckling while smashing up hard candies for a cookie filling or pulling a dish out of the oven and raving, "These noodles have been to the disco." What a treat. |
… an hour, and I like conflict |
 | | "Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine" includes creative interstitials.Showtime |
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'Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine' |
When to watch: Sunday at 10 p.m., on Showtime. |
This three-part documentary, airing the next three Sundays, is an intriguing, sometimes demoralizing, look at the life and career of the rapper born Daniel Hernandez and known today as 6ix9ine. Beyond the archival footage and talking-head interviews, "Supervillain" uses an unusual narrative technique to comment on the deliberateness and artificiality of 6ix9ine's persona: constructing an action figure of sorts while explaining the poisons of viral fame and the characteristics of supervillainy. Sometimes these segments feel a little forced, but better to be different than boring. |
… a few hours, and it's time to play the music |
 | | This is what we call "The Muppet Show."Disney |
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All five seasons of "The Muppet Show" land on Disney+ this weekend, including seasons that were not previously available on DVD releases over the years and segments that aired only in Britain. (Two of the series's 120 episodes are not available.) As sketch shows go, this is one of the greats, and any given episode will have slapstick goofiness, a lovely cover of a song and sometimes, as a bonus, a piercing understanding of the shabbiness of humanity. If you don't know where to start, try the episodes hosted by Rita Moreno, Rudolf Nureyev, Harry Belafonte and Joan Baez. |
Your newly available movies |
 | | Frances McDormand in Chloé Zhao's film "Nomadland," in which she shares the screen with several nonprofessional actors and real-life van travelers.Joshua Richards/Searchlight Pictures |
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Perhaps the most acclaimed film of the last year, with a mantel full of awards from major festivals and critics' groups, Chloé Zhao's "Nomadland" premieres on Hulu this week, starring Frances McDormand as a widow who lives out of a van and travels through the American West. Our critics also recommend "Flora & Ulysses," a Disney comedy about a superheroic squirrel. Your mileage may vary. |
Some independent films are available via "virtual cinemas," which share the rental fees between distributors and theaters. Unless otherwise noted, other titles can generally be rented on the usual platforms, including Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube. SCOTT TOBIAS |
"Flora & Ulysses" veers close to falling into the trap of cheesiness that kids' movies of this genre often find themselves in, but miraculously never does. In fact, this hopeful comedy, in showing how a twitchy-tailed hero can change a family, lifts off and flies. — Maya Phillips (Read the full review here.) |
An unexpectedly gripping thriller that seesaws between comedy and horror, "I Care a Lot" is cleverly written (by the director, J Blakeson) and wonderfully cast. Marla is an almost cartoonish sociopath, and [Rosamund] Pike leans into her villainy with unwavering bravado. — Jeannette Catsoulis (Read the full review here.) |
It takes brass to poach on turf decisively owned by "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas," and the director, Daniel Grou, who goes by Podz, deserves credit for delivering a saga that's never dull despite hitting overfamiliar beats. — Ben Kenigsberg (Read the full review here.) |
"Nomadland" is patient, compassionate and open, motivated by an impulse to wander and observe rather than to judge or explain. — A.O. Scott (Read the full review here.) |
"Test Pattern" achieves a lot with very little: The film's nonlinear editing and cannily scored silences invite our interpretations, locating in them the entanglements of race and gender. Ford pushes us, if not to definitive answers, then to the right questions. — Devika Girish (Read the full review here.) |
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