I am most definitely not one to swoon over superheroes–unless Marvel’s next franchise is titled Nandor the Relentless, I really couldn’t care less about even the smallest star in that entire universe. But, if forced, I would have to confess that Batman is the one superhero who has managed to capture my imagination the most in recent years. Now, granted, that is largely due to Christopher Nolan’s genius and his trilogy of Batman films that wandered so far away from what could be considered superhero fare that you almost forgot you were watching characters that originated in comic books. Credit also needs to go to Warner Bros and DC Entertainment for keeping Nolan’s flame lit by continuing to produce visionary, imaginative, innovative and artistically expansive stories from the Batman universe. Recent films like Birds of Prey, Joker and The Batman all generated rave reviews and the series Harley Quinn is one of the most heralded animated series on television. And now comes The Penguin, a limited series spinoff from Matt Reeves’ The Batman film from 2022, and this series is the best Batman offspring since Nolan’s films.

First of all, do not worry if you aren’t a Batman connoisseur. Unlike the Marvel films, where you have to know every character’s backstory and understand all the easter eggs and inside jokes to get the least bit of pleasure out of them, The Penguin can be enjoyed truly as a standalone series, even if you know nothing about the Batman universe.

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During the height of the pandemic, I was desperate for “feel good” TV. While I normally gravitate towards serious dramas, that was a time when I needed to find refuge in sweetness, in a more of a Zen approach to narrative storytelling, in being distracted by kindness and hope, decency and optimism. It’s clear I’m not the only one who felt that way, proven by the phenomenons Ted Lasso and Schitt’s Creek became during those years. Not that either show wouldn’t have done so at any other time, but coming out as they did during the pandemic, these two shows really hit the emotional bullseye, tapping into the zeitgeist, delivering positivity, kindness and sweetness to a nation desperately in need of it.

Now I find myself strangely in need of some goodness again, and, thankfully, Detectorists has come to my rescue. An unbelievably simple but sweet show that aired from 2014 to 2017 and is now available to stream on Freevee (through Prime Video), Detectorists stars Toby Jones as Lance and Mackenzie Crook as Andy, two guys for whom metal detecting has become more of a passion and a way of life than just a hobby to pass the time. There is a poetry in the way they approach their passion, as they trudge across farms and fields of England with their trusty detectors, listening for a faint ping to indicate the site of possible buried treasure. An awful lot has happened in these open fields in the English countryside, a lot of history could be buried here, and Lance and Andy can’t help but be just a bit romantic about it all.

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There’s no mincing words when it comes to Rivals, a new show on Hulu. It is all sex, soap, silliness and sleaze, wrapped up in an addictive package with a killer soundtrack and shoulder pads.

A soapy drama in the spirit of ‘80s primetime hits like Dallas and Dynasty, Rivals is about two rich men, one from new money, one from old, who take their rivalry to new heights by battling for control of the region’s television programming. But of course, their rivalry doesn’t stay professional, spilling over into their tony, upper crust neighborhood of the Cotswolds region of southwest England. The Cotswolds is commonly thought of as the English version of the Hamptons, but with way more castles and fox hunts. And parties. Lots and lots of parties.

And sex, did I mention all the sex? I don’t know what’s in the water in the Cotswolds, but whatever it is, it makes everybody incredibly horny. Rivals is as classic a country sex romp as they come, on top of all the backroom backstabbing that goes on between the business rivals. Yeah, it’s pretty over the top, but it’s SO ‘80s. It’s set in 1986, and everything just exudes mid-‘80s, pre-AIDS ‘80s excesses, from the clothes, the music, the hair, and, yes, the sex.

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I admit I am easily drawn to film or TV shows by who’s in them or who made them. While I do love certain genres and stories, what drives me to watch something is, more often than not, who is in it rather than what it is about. So, when I heard AppleTV+ had an original series starring Cate Blanchett, I was in. But then I heard Kevin Kline was also in it and I didn’t even care what it was about. THEN I heard it was written and directed by Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuarón and I started counting the days until its premiere. Cuarón has written and directed some of the most prestigious films of the last twenty years, including Children of Men and Roma, for which he won Academy Awards for Directing and Cinematography, but, for me, he will forever be known for Gravity, which still stands as the most mind-blowing experience I’ve ever had in a movie theater.

Still, it was the idea of Blanchett and Kline together that got me most excited for Disclaimer, this new AppleTV+ series, which premiered on October 11. Kline, the icon of stage and cinema, is very picky with his roles, so those of us who love him are incredibly grateful when we get a chance to see him on screen, and to see him opposite Blanchett, who is at the absolute peak of her powers, is exciting, to say the least. I was hoping this pairing would bear sweeter fruit than the last Kline coupling I had had my hopes raised and dashed by back in 2021 when Sigourney Weaver and Kline starred in The Good House, a film that was far from the Dave reunion I had hoped for. Kline has been long overdue for a renaissance, a la Michael Keaton, and I am totally here for it—but still waiting.

Well, hold onto your hats, kids, because Kevin Kline is back. And he’s making the most of it.

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It’s gotten to the point where I would watch Olivia Colman read the phone book, and, in her latest film, Wicked Little Letters, it’s almost that simple. The film, directed by Thea Sharrock and written by Jonny Sweet based on a true story, is a deceptively uproarious dark comedy set in a small town in England after World War I.

The plot revolves around the mystery of profanity-laced letters which have been sent to buttoned-up good Christian woman, Edith Swan, played by Colman. Edith’s parents, played by the marvelous Gemma Jones and Timothy Spall, go to the police, insisting they get to the bottom of the cruel prank, as the letters become increasingly vulgar. They insist the main suspect has to be their neighbor, the foul-mouthed single mother Rose Gooding, played by Jessie Buckley, an Irish immigrant whose husband died in the war. Even though Rose insists she had nothing to do with the letters and there is no evidence or motive linking her to them, the police arrest her and put her on trial. Local policewoman Gladys Moss, played by Anjana Vasan, suspects there may be more to the story however, and takes it upon herself, with the help of some ladies from town, to do their own “off the books” investigation to try to get to the truth.

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Word on the street is that sitcoms are dying. If that seems hard to believe, let me remind you that we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Friends this year. While Friends could easily be called the last great traditional American sitcom (that’s THIRTY years ago, I’ll remind you), the modern network sitcom is still clinging to life support, with occasional flashes of brilliance (see Abbott Elementary) proving that perhaps the format is not quite ready to die just yet.

One such example of comedy genius is English Teacher, a series which just finished its first season of eight episodes on FX, which you can find streaming on Hulu. But don’t be fooled, English Teacher may look like a traditional sitcom, but it’s far from. While there may be the basic elements of traditional format within (one central character, an ensemble cast made up of basic tropes, and one open setting that allows for revolving stories each week), English Teacher makes up its own rules, including a killer retro ‘80s soundtrack (heaven), zero laugh track, and no true cliché in sight.

And it’s so good.

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Ahead of the premiere of season two, which drops on November 13 on Apple TV, here’s your chance to catch up on the first season of one of, if not the best, season of television from 2022: Bad Sisters.

I haven’t mentioned it until now because I just assume everyone already knows about it and loves it as much as I do, but I realize that may be a little narcissistic, so I now take the opportunity to reach those of you who have not yet discovered this true gem of a show.

Bad Sisters is a dark comedy set in Ireland about five adult sisters who were orphaned at a young age and have grown up extraordinarily bonded. Because of this bond, they are perhaps a bit more protective of each other than they should be, so much so that they feel the need to protect one of their own from an abusive husband, even if it means killing him. Well, maybe not killing him. Well, maybe it does. Or maybe it doesn’t. Well, you’ll just have to watch.

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I really don’t know why I’ve slept on Danny McBride for so long. As a baseball lover, everyone has told me I should watch McBride’s first series, Eastbound and Down, which ran on HBO for four seasons, from 2009 to 2013, developing a huge cult following. And, as an even bigger fan of Walton Goggins, I should have already been on board for McBride’s second HBO series, Vice Principals, which ran for 2 seasons in 2016 and 2017, which starred McBride and Goggins as two high school vice principals competing for the top job. But no, for some reason I instead let both of those series pass me by without any interest at all. There was just something about McBride that didn’t appeal to me–his comedy just wasn’t my cup of tea. Or so I thought.

Just shows you how much I know.

It took Walton Goggins, John Goodman AND three years of overwhelming buzz for me to finally give McBride’s current series a chance, and it has become the most enjoyable binge we’ve had since six seasons of Schitt’s Creek got us through the early days of lockdown.

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I know I totally need to catch up on Insecure, the HBO series that made a star of Issa Rae. But there are 44 episodes over five seasons of that show, whereas there are just 8 episodes of the first season of How to Die Alone, a new show that just premiered on Hulu, starring an Insecure alum, Natasha Rothwell, so I admit I chose the smaller bite. But if Insecure is anywhere near as enjoyable, easy to watch and satisfying as How to Die Alone is, those five seasons will just fly by.

Don’t be put off by the title. How to Die Alone is not a show about the best way to kill yourself. Nor is it a sequel to 127 Hours. Instead, it is a sitcom-like show about a single woman, played by Rothwell, who works at JFK airport in New York and struggles with finding meaning and love in her life. She works in an airport but has never been on a plane. She recently broke up with a man she really liked because she was afraid to fall in love. She had a near-death experience, and her emergency contact was herself. These are all things that she is forced to confront in very neurotic and hilarious ways and leading the charge is Rothwell, an exceedingly charismatic performer who deserves her own show and makes the most of it.

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There have been two recent dramatizations of the 2019 bombshell Prince Andrew interview that ended up sending unintended shockwaves through the English monarchy, but one is so much better than the other, which is why I’m highly recommending, if you are interested in either, choosing A Very Royal Scandal on Prime Video instead of Scoop on Netflix.

There had been rumors for years about Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth’s second (and supposedly favorite) son’s friendship with convicted child rapist Jeffrey Epstein, but nobody had ever really pursued the story until 2019, when BBC’s Newsnight anchor Emily Maitlis landed a rare interview with the Duke of York, ostensibly arranged as a forum for him to publicly put to rest all the rumors and to apologize specifically to one victim in particular, who claimed the Prince had raped her. But what was hoped, at least by the Palace, to put rumors to bed, only served to fan the flames as Andrew’s disastrous performance in the interview led to his essential banishment from the Royal Family in one of the most scandalous turn of events in the history of the modern English Monarchy.

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