If you are in the mood for comedy, there’s an abundant amount of content choices this week. For pure historical laughter, there’s HBO Max’s Our Flag Means Death. If you're in the mood for something a little darker, there’s Peacock’s Tiger King biopic Joe vs. Carole and Apple TV Plus’ The Problem with Jon Stewart. Looking for horror comedy? Check out Hulu’s Fresh. Laughs aside, there's Netflix’s Pieces of Her, And in the documentary section there is IMDb TV’s Bug Out and Discovery Plus’ Legacy: In the Shadow of Greatness. But arguably the most anticipated show out this week is HBO Max’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, a drama from Adam McKay about the meteoric rise of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s.
Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max, March 3)
Taika Waititi, the Oscar-winning writer behind JoJo Rabbit and director of Thor: Ragnarok, directed the pilot of this new period comedy, which he also co-stars in and executive produced. The 10-episode series is loosely based on “the true adventures of Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a pampered aristocrat who abandoned his cushy lifestyle to become a pirate.” Waititi plays Blackbeard, history’s most feared and revered pirate. The first three episodes of Our Flag Means Death will be released on March 3. Three more episodes will premiere on March 10, and two more on March 17 and again on March 24.
Joe vs. Carole (Peacock, March 3)
If you can believe it, Robert Moor reported and hosted a podcast about Joe Exotic before the Netflix docuseries Tiger King became a sensation. Joe vs. Carole is based on that podcast and stars John Cameron Mitchell as exotic animal lover Joe Exotic, and Kate McKinnon as big cat enthusiast Carole Baskin. The limited series is based around Baskin’s discovery that Joe was breeding and using his big cats for profit. She becomes determined to shut him down. But it turns out that Carole is no Mother Teresa, which sends Joe over the edge and into violent rage.
The Problem with Jon Stewart – Season 2 (Apple TV Plus, March 3)
The first season of The Problem with Jon Stewart got off to an awkward start. After premiering in September, the one-hour show -- similar in style to HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver -- earned an aggregated 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Each episode centers on a single topic, and begins with Stewart’s jokes on the topic, then moves to a roundtable discussion about the topic, which is broken up by brief, pre-recorded bits. The new season will lineup directly with current affairs Stewart discusses on his podcast of the same name.
Pieces of Her (Netflix, March 4)
Toni Collette stars in this eight-episode Netflix thriller based on Karin Slaughter’s 2018 eponymous 2018 novel. The series follows 30-year-old Andy Oliver (Bella Heathcote) who, after enduring a random act of gun violence, discovers that her mother Laura (Collette) is not the person she seems to be. Writer Charlotte Stoudt (Homeland, House of Cards) serves as series writer, executive producer and showrunner.
Fresh (Hulu, March 4)
Mimi Cave’s Fresh, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, stars Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) as Noa. After a series of horrible first dates, Noa meets a single, cute guy named Steve (Sebastian Stan) at the grocery store. Noa and Steve hit it off and go on a romantic weekend getaway, which is when Noa realizes that Steve has, to put it gently, some unusual habits. The film earned an aggregated 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes. “Fresh comes across as a carefree bit of bloody fun. But there’s considerably more going on beneath the surface…The gender critique is just as juicy, even if the plot is a lot harder to swallow,” wrote Variety critic Peter Debruge.
The Boys Presents: Diabolical (Amazon Prime, March 4)
A spinoff of The Boys, a best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, this R-rated animated superhero anthology series consists of eight episodes and features different animation styles. The 12-14-minute episodes were written by celebrities including Seth Rogen, Awkwafina, Justin Roiland, Andy Samberg and Aisha Tyler. The voice cast includes Rogen, Awkwafina, Michael Cera, Don Cheadle, Kieran Culkin, Elisabeth Shue, Christian Slater, Kevin Smith and Simon Pegg.
Bug Out (IMDb TV, March 4)
This true crime docuseries is a deep dive into the 2018 theft of $50,000 worth of living spiders, insects and lizards from the Philadelphia Insectarium, which it turns out is the largest known live insect heist in history. The series’ four episodes reveal that there is an underworld of bug smugglers. Who knew? Via interviews with insect collectors, bug smugglers and law enforcement officers connected to the unsolved case, it’s clear that Philly’s Insectarium may not be the wholesome family museum it appears to be. In all 7,000 bugs were stolen from the museum’s collection.
Dear… Season 2 (Apple TV Plus, March 4)
The nine-episode series was inspired by Apple’s Dear Apple spots, which saw people reach out to the tech company about “how the Apple Watch helped them live healthier lives.” In the Dear … series, director R.J. Cutler (Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry) puts the spotlight on internationally recognized leaders, entertainers and athletes who hear from fans whose lives have been impacted by their work. The second season of Dear… will include plenty of tears, as well as some much needed positivity. The series’ nine installments highlight the work of celebrities including André Leon Talley, Jane Fonda, Ava DuVernay, Malala Yousafzai and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (HBO Max, March 6)
The 10-episode drama series is based on Jeff Pearlman’s nonfiction book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s and executive produced by Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up). McKay also directed the pilot episode of the series, which chronicles the meteoric rise of the Lakers after being purchased by Jerry Buss in 1979. John C. Reily plays Buss, while Quincy Isaiah plays Magic Johnson, the player who manifests Buss' vision of the previously moribund Lakers -- and the broader realm of pro basketball -- turning into fast-paced, star-studded entertainment. The talent roster is more packed than the "Showtime Lakers": Jason Segel, Michael Chiklis, Sally Field, Adrien Brody and Gaby Hoffmann. New episodes will be released weekly on HBO Max.
Legacy: In the Shadow of Greatness (Discovery Plus, March 8)
Imagine being the child of Dwyane Wade, Evander Holyfield or Randall Cunningham and attempting to follow in your father’s athletic footsteps. Yikes. This six-part documentary series explores what it’s like for the offspring of Wade, Holyfield and Cunningham as they attempt to break out from their parents’ shadows and become superstars in their own right.
