Ask Matt: International Picks from the Apple TV+ Tree & More
Welcome to the Q&A with TV critic — also known to some TV fans as their “TV therapist” — Matt Roush, who’ll try to address whatever you love, loathe, are confused or frustrated or thrilled by in today’s vast TV landscape. (We know background music is too loud, it’s the most frequent complaint, but there’s always closed-captioning. Check out this story for more tips.)
One caution: This is a spoiler-free zone, so we won’t be addressing upcoming storylines here unless it’s already common knowledge. Please send your questions and comments to [email protected]. Look for Ask Matt columns on most Tuesdays.
Worthy Streaming Series from Other Lands
Question: I finally, FINALLY, have a subscription to Apple TV+, and I understand (from you and others) that it includes some wonderful foreign-language shows. Which ones do you recommend most highly? — Ryan
Matt Roush: Congratulations. As I’ve said before in this and other spaces, Apple TV+ is my preferred streamer for quality over quantity (which is Netflix‘s sweet spot), while for TV library purposes, it’s hard to beat Hulu. Regarding the deep Apple TV+ trove of international TV, I’d top the list with Pachinko, the exquisite adaptation of Jin Min Lee’s novel of Koreans displaced in Japan. (There’s still more story to tell, but I fear we won’t get a third and presumably final season.) In the year of The Pitt, I’d also recommend Berlin ER, which is a much darker ride. And if you desire a lighter mode, Carême is a diverting caper set in Napoleonic France about a master chef who’s also a spy, and fashionistas should enjoy La Maison, a French soap set in the world of high fashion (and a lot more enjoyable than the historical docudrama The New Look, about Christian Dior during World War II). There are quite a few I haven’t had time to check out (including the international thriller Tehran), but I also got hooked unexpectedly on Women in Blue, a Spanish-language procedural about the first squad of female police officers in Mexico in the 1970s.
And while it doesn’t qualify as foreign-language fare, I do sometimes put the closed-captioning on (because of the accents) while watching the Emmy-winning British spy series Slow Horses, which may be my favorite of all of the streamer’s shows. I’m counting the days until it returns next month for its fifth season.
No Justice for Half Pint’s Legal Drama
Question: Melissa Gilbert (always a favorite) has stayed in the business ever since Little House on the Prairie. I was recently looking through her autobiography, which was not indexed, thinking of a 22-episode series she made with Cicely Tyson called Sweet Justice on NBC in the 1994-95 season. I do remember considering it one too many weekly series for me to keep up with during that amazing year. Since then, it looks like there were no cable repeats, DVDs, a streaming run, or even VHS copies on YouTube, except a promo for the premiere. While I imagine the show was no canceled-too-soon gem, do you have any recollections at all from watching it? — Paul D., St. Louis, MO
Matt Roush: That really is a blast from the past, and a reminder of how long I’ve been doing this. I’m not sure I watched Sweet Justice much past its first episodes — or however many NBC sent for review that fall — which dates back to my days at USA TODAY. Because I have no sense memory of the show beyond the Emmy-nominated Cicely Tyson stealing her scenes, I scoured the archives and here are some excerpts of my two-and-a-half-star review from 1994:
“There’s too much order in the Southern courtrooms of Sweet Justice, a perfectly pleasant but awfully predictable drama. While not essential TV, it’s surely unobjectionable. And Sweet Justice‘s stars are something more than that: Melissa Gilbert as Kate Delacroy, a pale magnolia who returns home from Wall Street lawyering to eventually work alongside Cicely Tyson as Carrie Grace Battle, legendary activist and underdog advocate. Together, they’re as smooth as Southern Comfort, but often as cloying – especially as they reminisce about Kate’s late mom, who once fought for liberal causes with battle-scarred Carrie Grace.
“The good fight continues here, though the bad guys are too easy to spot: If rich, they’re up to no good. That includes Kate’s own dad, a well-connected good-old-boy lawyer played with slick hamminess by Ronny Cox. In the opener, ‘Katey-bug’ (as daddy calls her) takes on one of his biggest clients in a child-custody case. ‘Let me know when you’re ready to play on the winning side for a change,’ he tells her. Hey, pops, why do you think they call this sweet justice? On Saturday’s show, she protects eccentric moneybags Marion Ross (a sly performance) from her greedy daughters. Gilbert may be one of the least believable TV lawyers since Civil Wars’ Mariel Hemingway, but Kate’s a miracle worker in this court, where tidy pat endings rule. Speaking of miracle workers, who does her hair?”
Conclusion: I guess I’m not surprised the show didn’t make it past the first season. Such a short run also kept it from having a syndication afterlife, and the studio no doubt didn’t see the wisdom in marketing a VHS or other sort of home-video release.
Better Late Than Never?
Question: We all pay to stream our favorites to avoid network TV. So why do we have to wait a day to watch our shows on the corresponding streaming platform? Does this have something to do with ad dollars? — Anita
Matt Roush: The 24-hour delay (sometimes longer) for broadcast network shows to begin streaming is a financial consideration, and also a contractual one. The network-TV business is already challenged enough, and by giving the networks, and more importantly, their affiliates, a one-day exclusive window gives them at least the illusion of still being a player. If you’re intent on watching a network show on the night it first airs, that’s a win for network TV and its advertising partners, and they’re not about to give that up. Yet.
What Did They Just Text?
Question: New technology is wonderful, but it seems at least one aspect of it just doesn’t work for modern-day TV. I’m referring to the problem of displaying cellphone texts on TV shows. No matter how hard they try to do this, I can never really read the messages. They’re either not up long enough or they’re not really legible, no matter how big your screen is. Or both. I’m not really sure what producers can do about it, since texting is now a part of everyday life, and it would be difficult to write them out of TV shows and still be convincing. There must be a way to reproduce a text sent to a character’s phone—or worse, a series of back-and-forth conversations between two people on a show—that stays up longer than five seconds and is something viewers can easily read. I’ve often had to go back on my DVR and try and make out what they’ve been typing to each other. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Too often, it winds up being a key plot element or some vital info that affects the rest of the show. Any idea how they can solve this relatively new but certainly permanent problem on TV? And please don’t text me your answer! — Aaron F.
Matt Roush: Another of our FACs (Frequently Aired Complaints), right up there with loud background music and too-dark photography. It’s a chronic problem, and outside of having actors unnaturally read their texts aloud (which kind of defeats the purpose), the best solution would be for producers and film editors to make the words as large as possible for as long as possible, especially when they are critical to the story. Having the words appear as thought bubbles while we watch the character react to the text seems to work best.
Before They Were Stars
Question: During the off-season, I’ve decided to re-watch Homeland, another series which is inexplicably not on Showtime, where it originally aired, but on Hulu! Who remembers that an unknown named Timothée Chalamet was in Season 2? I didn’t. — D.P.
Matt Roush: Any collective amnesia about this casting could be because 1) no one knew who Timothée Chalamet was back in 2012, and 2) because his storyline was tied into that of Dana Brody, one of the more problematic characters on that terrific series. When I saw this question, I immediately thought, “Was he the jerk responsible for that hit-and-run subplot?” and it turns out he was, playing the corrupt vice president’s privileged son. This week’s column has really taken me down TV’s memory lane.
And Finally …
Question: Grimm was one of the best series ever produced. The ending was priceless and a perfect set-up for a sequel: Grimm: the Next Generation. Any chance it will happen? — George
Matt Roush: Never lose hope. Reports circulated earlier this year that a Grimm reboot, most likely a movie, was being developed at Peacock. These things can take a while, so be patient. It’s only been eight years since Grimm went off the air, which is not such a long time, considering that it has been more than 20 years since Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended, and it’s only getting a reboot now (and I will force myself to reserve judgment until it happens).
That’s all for now—and until after Labor Day. See you in September, and remember that we can’t do this without your participation, so please keep sending questions and comments about TV to [email protected]. (Please include a first name with your question.)
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