Don’t be put off by the title. Murderbot, a new series on AppleTV+, is sci-fi, but it’s a comedy, not an apocalyptic, Terminator-type vision of our near-future where machines destroy humanity. Of course, as of this writing, only seven of the ten episodes of season one have dropped, so who knows what could happen. BUT, for what I’ve seen so far of Murderbot, it is a delightful, even goofy at times, warm and endearingly offbeat comedy about a service robot who has gained free will, and every indication is that it won’t go rogue like its main character.
The great Alexander Skarsgård plays the titular, newly-sentient robot, nicknamed “sec unit,” because he was initially programmed to be a security robot, designed to assist and protect humans on missions to distant planets. He is chosen to escort a group of scientists, whose leader, Mensah, played by Noma Dumezweni, selects him specifically because he strikes her as a little odd, a little different than all
the other, more polished, newer robots. That’s because he’s been refurbished—something happened in his past that had to be wiped from his memory, maybe this is where the series title comes from? Hmmm. But this is where the “glitch” may have happened that prompted our loveable sec unit to gain self-awareness. And it is here where Murderbot gains all of its momentum.
The premise of conquering the beast has been around as long as storytelling has captured human imagination. Myths, fairy tales, superhero sagas, they all tell tales of ordinary men and women going up against an unconquerable foe, armed only with their courage, wit and, more often than not, immeasurable luck. 
stationary object. Climb Mt. Everest, jump out of a plane towards Earth, jump off a cliff into the ocean–it’s hard enough to do any of those things, to master any of those skills, to overcome any of those fears, to have the stamina, strength, endurance and ability to do any of those things just as they are. Now imagine doing any of them while they are moving and trying to devour you at the same time. Imagine if, as you were climbing Mt. Everest, it was trying to swallow you whole while you’re just trying to stay on your feet—just trying to survive. 
I heard the latest Netflix series sensation Dept. Q described as a cross between Slow Horses and House. Now, if you know anything about those two other beloved but decidedly un-traditional shows, one which ran from 2004 to 2012 and the other which is currently running on AppleTV+, they both are centered around one certifiably grumpy guy who also happens to be—of course—somewhat of a genius at what he does, despite how he makes everyone around him crazy. In House, the crazy-maker was played by the always-perfect
Hugh Laurie and in Slow Horses, he’s played by the great unwashed master Gary Oldman, so, to be considered in the same creative arena as them is quite high praise indeed, but certainly one that is deserved by Matthew Goode, who earns his misanthropic stripes in Dept. Q with just as much bitterness as Laurie and rueful resentment but thankfully more soap (and certainly fewer farts) than Oldman. 
I was in the mood for action again, so I looked around for a show that could scratch my itch and I found one that did just that. It’s not the typical kind of action, there aren’t car chases or spy shenanigans, but there are explosions and tension galore. If you are looking for a show that will keep you fully engaged, on the edge of your seat and never once bored enough to look at your phone, Trigger Point on Peacock and BritBox is the show for you.
Hurt Locker, which won the Oscar for Best Picture back in 2008, except without war, the desert or all that testosterone. 
Netflix’s first Canadian original series has arrived and it’s a winner. North of North is a half-hour comedy series starring Anna Lambe as Siaja, a twenty-six-year-old Inuk woman in the small fictional town of Ice Cove in the province of Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic, the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. Siaja is having a bit of an identity crisis and wants desperately to break out of the rut she’s in, starting with her marriage to a self-absorbed husband, who happens to be the most popular guy in town. But breaking away from her husband, who is also the father of her young daughter, won’t be easy, and neither
I know, I know, another British detective show. Is it my fault that detective shows are all the Brits seem to make? And is it my fault that they all are so good?
There’s been a lot of hubbub lately about the mass exodus of film and television production from Hollywood. For a town so identified with show business—Hollywood literally defines the term “industry town”—Los Angeles has found itself at quite a crossroads, watching the vast majority of its core jobs being shipped out of town, out of state and even out of country, where it’s cheaper to produce. In a recent viral conversation in a podcast that shed a very sad but true light on the state of the industry at the moment, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe, two former castmates in the television series Parks & Recreation, which shot entirely in Los Angeles back from 2009-2015, lamented the fact that shows don’t film in Hollywood anymore. Lowe, who hosts a game show called The Floor, noted that he films the show in Ireland because it is cheaper to fly 100 people over to Ireland than it is to film on the Fox lot just down the street from where they live in Southern California.
I’ve been needing to laugh much more than usual lately–probably because the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale is airing while we are living it—so I’ve been seeking out the funny in every possible format: sitcoms, talk shows, stand-up specials, whatever it takes. What I wasn’t expecting was belly laughs from a reality show. Now, normally, I despise reality shows (Survivor, Great British Baking Show and Amazing Race are, of course, forgiven because they are, well, forever in the pantheon) but sometimes you just have to go outside your comfort zone and test the waters to see if something off the radar just might be worthwhile. 
I had heard great things about a show called We Are Lady Parts back in 2021 but I never bothered to check it out, as it was a Peacock original, and, until Poker Face came along in 2023, I didn’t really take Peacock seriously as a purveyor of decent original content.