45 h. ago A Man on the Inside season two review – Ted Danson’s despicably bland show is everything wrong with TV

Only our current tech hellscape could create a comedy so insidiously inoffensive. Prepare to be pummelled into submission as your time is siphoned off by OK entertainmentThis is a cosy, lighthearted whodunnit about a retired professor who gets a second wind as a private eye. It’s also a bingo card for just about everything that makes streamer-era TV so patronising, uninspiring and mind-numbingly dull.On the surface, A Man on the Inside’s crimes might seem negligible: it’s a little schmaltzy, a little too pleased with itself in that wisecrack-stuffed American comedy way. Yet it’s exactly that inoffensiveness that makes this strain of television so insidious. When the New York Times critic James Poniewozik coined the term “mid TV” to describe the current “profusion of well-cast, sleekly produced competence” that has come to dominate our screens, it wasn’t so much a vicious takedown as a shrug at the blah-ness of it all. The tech giants have pummelled us into submission by siphoning of...

Culture

5 d. ago What to Stream: 'Wicked: For Good' soundtrack, Ted Danson, 'The Bad Guys 2' and Black cowboys

Ted Danson’s “A Man on the Inside” returning to Netflix for its second season and Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo belting out the “Wicked: For Good” soundtrack are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you

Politics

2 w. ago Celebrity Race Across the World on BBC One review: as wholesome as ever

Three seasons in, the celeb version of the much-loved travel show has lost none of its charm

Politics

2 w. ago Squid Game: The Challenge season two review – nothing you see here is OK

Cash-strapped people forced to do shameful things because they’re desperate for money? How can this rot be real? If I recreated the idea in my local park, I’d surely end up in prisonThere’s missing the point, and then there’s Netflix making its capitalism-skewing Korean hit about a ruthless contest into an actual gameshow. The producers of Squid Game: The Challenge have previously denied that’s what happened here, stating that, in fact, the series is also about camaraderie and how people work under pressure, and is, I quote, “a critique of how we are ingrained from childhood to be ultra-competitive”. Come on – it’s a reality show about people doing humiliating things because they’re desperate for money, based on a drama about people doing humiliating things because they’re desperate for money. If I rounded up a load of debt-ridden people and recreated Squid Game: The Challenge in my local park, I’m pretty sure I’d be put in prison.The thing about Squid Game: The Challenge that makes...

Politics

3 w. ago The Witcher season four review – Liam Hemsworth is as charismatic as a bollard in a wig

The replacement that Netflix has chosen for lead actor Henry Cavill is utterly lacking in his predecessor’s likability. The ex-Neighbours actor is a scowling lunk who brings a wildly uneven vibe to this fantasy dramaThe Witcher is a maverick, a lone wolf, a loose cannon who won’t play by the rules. “He knows no fear,” gasps an underling as the Witcher looks at a horse and frowns, fearlessly. But the Witcher is preoccupied. The winds of change howl around his thigh boots and perturb the weave of his wig. “Your silence is especially loud today, Witcher,” observes sidekick Milva (Meng’er Zhang), as the Witcher – who, for the purposes of drama/HMRC, is also known as Geralt of Rivia – frowns at another horse. But the Witcher/Geralt doesn’t want to talk about why he doesn’t want to talk. Not because the most recent instalment of the beloved Netflix series with which he shares a name saw his family rent asunder by the forces of darkness (although, to be fair, this probably hasn’t helped). ...

Politics

3 w. ago The Witcher season 4 review – Liam Hemsworth steps into a series that’s become pure bilge

Henry Cavill was the best thing about the show, and in this penultimate season, it struggles on without him

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3 w. ago Netflix's The Witcher season four review: Verdict on Liam Hemsworth as Geralt

The Witcher season four is now available to stream on Netflix

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3 w. ago Netflix's The Witcher season four review: Liam Hemsworth isn't the biggest problem

Fans were concerned about the change in lead actor for Netflix series but it still hasn't fixed its biggest issues

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4 w. ago Nobody Wants This season 2 review – Kristen Bell and Adam Brody still sparkle in endlessly moreish romcom

All the things that made this Netflix show a hit are still there, but it’s starting to lose its way, with certain plotlines feeling rushed and tonally out of place

Politics