Week of April 26 – May 2

We’re approaching the beginning of summer and the movies and television series that are airing and streaming this week are certainly turning up the heat. We’ve got a new Tina Fey series on Netflix (“The Four Seasons”), a sequel to “A Simple Favor” (“Another Simple Favor” on Prime Video), a Brett Goldstein stand-up special (on HBO) and the return of “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy! Masters,” among many other things. If you want to get a little more serious, too, there’s an excellent new documentary on the Vietnam War on Netflix (“Turning Point: The Vietnam War”).

On with the television! 

The Four Seasons

Thursday, May 1, Netflix

Source: Netflix

Tina Fey and fellow “30 Rock” writer-producers Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield reunited for this new comedic drama, based on the 1981 Alan Alda movie of the same name. (Alda directed the film which starred Carol Burnett, Sandy Dennis, Rita Moreno and Jack Weston.) In 1984, the film spawned a short-lived television spinoff for CBS but the Netflix series is a really-for-real remake, starring Fey, Steve Carell, Marco Calvani, Colman Domingo, Will Forte, Erika Henningsen and Kerri Kenney-Silver. The stars play friends who go on seasonal getaways and their world is rocked when one of the couples announces that they are headed towards divorce. The eight-episode series is designed with humanity and humor in mind. “I hope audiences feel like they are inside a big sweater with us, and also having a dinner party with us, and I hope that any of the joy and warmth that we all feel for each other all transfers to them, and that we are a comfort and provide some laughs for them in their home,” Fey told Netflix. How great was that sound? Get your bags packed. We’ve got a vacation to go on. [TRAILER]

Happy Face

Thursday, May 1, Paramount+

Source: Paramount+

This eight-part miniseries, based on a true story and adapted from the podcast “Happy Face” by Melissa Moore and Moore’s 2009 autobiography “Shattered Silence” (co-written with M. Bridget Cook), follows a young woman (Annaleigh Ashford) dealing with the fact that her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson (Dennis Quaid) is the notorious Happy Face Killer. Her father was responsible for murdering at least eight women in the United States in the early 1990s; his moniker was derived from the smiley faces he would draw on letters to the media and police. The final episode of the series is written by series creator Jennifer Cacicio and promises to be a humdinger. If you haven’t been watching, you’ve still got a few days to catch up. [TRAILER]

Another Simple Favor

Thursday, May 1, Prime Video

Source: Prime Video

Yes, there is a new sequel to the 2018 film “A Simple Favor” (see below) and yes, Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively are back for another round of murderous fun. When a murder takes place at Emily’s (Lively) extravagant new wedding to an Italian businessman, a fabulous new mystery unspools. Henry Golding and Andrew Rannells also return, with a new supporting cast that includes Bashir Salahuddin (Hondo from “Top Gun: Maverick”) and Elizabeth Perkins, who replaces Jean Smart as Lively’s mother. Also, Jake Tapper has a cameo as himself, so there’s that. Perhaps most importantly, director Paul Feig returns, for a sequel that is – hopefully – just as devilishly delicious as the first movie. Fingers crossed. [TRAILER]

Turning Point: The Vietnam War

Wednesday, April 30, Netflix

Source: Netflix

On the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, Netflix is releasing this wonderful, extremely upsetting five-part documentary on the Vietnam War and the way that the mistakes made then are still reverberating today. “Turning Point: The Vietnam War” follows “Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War” and “Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror,” and like those earlier installments was directed by Brian Knappenberger. The documentary mixes archival footage with talking head interviews from historians, soldiers who were on the ground and journalists who covered the war from the battleground. While all five are available on Wednesday, you should probably pace yourself. This isn’t exactly binge-able material – it’s deep, engrossing, complex (philosophically, morally, politically and in terms of the logistics of the campaign) and profoundly unnerving. A must-watch documentary event. [TRAILER]

A Simple Favor

Prime Video

Source: Prime Video

If, for some reason, you never saw “A Simple Favor” or want a refresher before the new sequel, why not revisit the original? Released back in 2018, “A Simple Favor” stars Anna Kendrick as a single widowed mother who is a vlogger (we’d probably refer to her as a content creator) who documents her life and does crafting and recipes. But her life is turned upside down when her glamorous friend (Lively) goes missing, plunging her into an entirely new realm of mystery and danger. The movie is plucky and fun to watch, with incredible costumes and some very good twists and turns, courtesy of the whip-smart script by Jessica Sharzer and Paul Feig’s solid direction. It’s a delight, basically. And hopefully the sequel will be just as compelling and fun. [WATCH]

Source: Netflix

“Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life”

Saturday, April 26 at 10 p.m., HBO

Brett Goldstein, the lovably gruff star of Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso,” debuts his first comedy special. Topics discussed in the special, which was recorded at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey, include love, sex, masculinity and the Muppets (of course). Get ready to have your funny bone tickled. [TRAILER]