April Fool’s Day seemed to come a little early this year with the punchline the 94th Academy Awards turned into. However, Will Smith’s slap heard around the world and AMPAS’ faltering reaction in the Dolby Theater and since aside, there is a fair amount of fun to hand on the small screen this week.
The question is which one will be the show you have to watch? No joke, the answer is to be found in my video review above.
Debuting today with all six-episodes of its first season on Amazon Prime Video, The Outlaws is co-created by the seemingly unlikely pairing of The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant and Mayans M.C. co-creator Elgin James.
Set in the somewhat sprawling metropolis of Bristol, the already renewed mix of comedy and thrills finds seven self-consciously defined “types” brought together for community service only to figuratively hit the jackpot. Already a hit in the UK, where it played last year, The Outlaws stars Christopher Walken, Rhianne Barreto, Gamba Cole, Darren Boyd, Clare Perkins, Eleanor Tomlinson, Jessica Gunning, Charles Babalola, Nina Wadia, Tom Hanson, Aiyana Goodfellow, Richard E. Grant and Merchant himself.
Julia Child is mainly known today for her French cooking and the relentless mockery the trailblazing TV host endured in her own life and since. Having premiered on HBO Max on March 31, the Sarah Lancashire-led eight-episode Julia from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel producer Daniel Goldfarb is as much about Child’s time as her cooking.
Co-starring Brittany Bradford, David Hyde Pierce, Bebe Neuwirth and Judith Light, the highly stylized Julia is produced by Lionsgate and 3 Arts. Chris Keyser serves as showrunner executive produces along with 3 Arts Entertainment’s Erwin Stoff. McDougall, Goldfarb and 3 Arts’ Kimberly Carver also executive produce. Todd Schulkin is a consulting producer on behalf of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts.
Reuniting Darkest Hour’s Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas, AppleTV+’s Slow Horses debuted today on the tech giant’s Oscar winning streaming service. Based on Mick Herron’s espionage novels of the seedy side of MI5 and those who fall from grace, Slow Horses is adapted by Will Smith, (It is a common name), who executive produces with Graham Yost, Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gail Mutrux, and Douglas Urbanski. Black Mirror vet James Hawesis directed the first six episodes, with others on board for an already shot second set of half a dozen episodes of the spy potboiler co-starring Olivia Cooke, Jonathan Pryce and Jack Lowden in its line-up.
As the MCU moves into another phase and Disney+ leans into more mature programming, the Oscar Isaac starring Moon Knight hit the streaming service on March 30. With one episode dropping per week in typical House of Mouse fashion, the Marvel Studios six-parter goes deep into Egyptian mythology, dissociative identity disorder and the multiple dimensions of Isaac’s sometimes brutal character.
Making Batman look laid back, Moon Knight was first introduced back in the comics in 1975.
Along with Star Wars vet Isaac, Moon Knight features Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy. Mohamed Diab and the team of Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead directed the episodes. Jeremy Slater is the head writer, and Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Diab, Slater and Isaac are the executive producers. Grant Curtis, Trevor Waterson and Rebecca Kirsch serve as co-executive producers.
So, check out the video review at the top to see which one of our quartet this week you have to watch. Really, I’m not kidding.