Adult Swim announced today that "Tuca & Bertie" will return for its ripped-from-the-jaws-of-cancellation second season on June 13. I can't wait. |
My heart and brain are ready to love |
 | | From left, Jodi Balfour, Sonya Walger, Sarah Jones, Krys Marshall and Cass Buggé in a scene from "For All Mankind."Apple TV+ |
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Oh, I am obsessed with this show. I will warn you that the first two episodes are clunkier and shallower than the rest of the series, but "For All Mankind" blossoms into a rich and riveting story, a show that knows that the most interesting and fruitful kind of conflict is the kind that arises when people who are mostly good try to do something really hard. |
"Mankind" is an alternate history drama in which the United States loses the space race — but then that race shifts from a sprint to a marathon, central to the Cold War as both the United States and the Soviet Union establish lunar bases. The show's parallel world is a little better than ours, a more technologically advanced and more hopeful place but still broken and familiar. Sure, John Lennon wasn't murdered. But there's still militarism and exploitation for him to protest. |
I once heard an astronaut speak about the overview effect, which describes when astronauts are struck by how small and fragile the world seems from outer space, how solvable and minute its problems. I thought about that a lot while I inhaled the 20 episodes of "Mankind," and about how the show balances scope, questions of purpose, notions of greatness. Is our love more important than going to Mars? That's a tough conversation! And it's one that for the characters here is not just hypothetical; people carry their grievances, both petty and righteous, wherever they go, be it the moon or the bar or the backyard. |
If you spent the last year or so feeling as if you couldn't really get into any dramas, but you are ready to have a fuller experience of human emotions again, watch this. |
 | | Sara Bareilles, left, and Renée Elise Goldsberry in "Girls5eva."Heidi Gutman/Peacock |
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When to watch: Arrives Thursday, on Peacock. |
Rejoice, "Kimmy Schmidt" fans, this new comedy about the former members of a '90s one-hit girl group is singing your song. The show, created by Meredith Scardino and executive produced by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, among others, has the same fast pace and appetite for pop absurdism. |
Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell and Busy Philipps star as the surviving members of Girls5eva, who decide to get the band back together in an attempt to slay their white whale: performing at Jingle Ball. Showbiz nonsense and biting observations abound, and the ecstatic good-badness of the group's songs is a real achievement. A lot of "Girls5eva" feels like Jenna Maroney redux, which isn't a bad thing per se. But the show does raise one's respect for Jane Krakowski's performance as that deranged "30 Rock" diva to a new level. |
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