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Tuned In: HBO Max launches; ‘Homecoming’ returns on Amazon

HBO Max

Tuned In: HBO Max launches; ‘Homecoming’ returns on Amazon

ABC blends true crime, genealogy in 'Genetic Detective'

WarnerMedia’s approach to its new streaming service, HBO Max, has been a head-scratcher at every turn.

First, there’s the confusion: There are so many HBOs! Ad-free HBO Max will be comprised of regular HBO plus new HBO Max content, which includes Max Originals and 10,000 hours of programming, such as reruns of “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory” and movies like “Joker,” “Wonder Woman”and in 2021 “The Snyder Cut” of director Zack Snyder’s 2017 film “Justice League.”

Streaming service HBO Now will become the gateway for HBO Max. HBO Now subscribers will get HBO Max at no additional cost.

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For those who subscribe to HBO through their cable/satellite system, what happens will depend on the system. DirecTV, Verizon, Hulu, Apple TV, Google and YouTube TV subscribers who already buy HBO will get HBO Max for free. But there is no deal for Comcast, DISH/Sling TV, Roku or Amazon customers to access HBO Max even if they already subscribe to HBO. (You’d have to cancel HBO through these companies and then sign up directly with HBO Max.)

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Then there’s the price point: $15 per month, significantly more than Disney+ and more than some Netflix tiers. (There is a $12 per-month-for-the-first-year HBO Max pre-launch deal, but it’s only for new customers.)

And, finally, the launch strategy: HBO Max debuts May 27 with six original series but only one scripted show for grown-ups. Even streamer Quibi, which has gained little traction since its early April launch, managed to have more original scripted shows on day one.

Surely some of this is bad timing due to the pandemic, but even the July 15th national launch of NBCUniversal’s Peacock promises at least three scripted series.

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Perhaps sensing the lackluster nature of its initial announcement, last week HBO Max unveiled a “second wave” of series premieres through August. But that batch of series — aside from the return of former TBS show “Search Party” — was also uninspiring.

Here’s what to expect from HBO Max’s originals at launch:

“Craftopia”: Why am I watching a children’s reality competition — one that would be at home on Nickelodeon — on an HBO-branded streaming service? HBO’s brand stands for curated excellence; HBO Max waters down the brand with shows like this to the point of a seemingly intentional drowning.

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“Legendary”: Take away the fun and silliness of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” add more robust production values and dim the lights and you’ve got this self-serious bore, a competition series set in the modern ballroom culture of period pieces “Paris is Burning” and “Pose.”

The premiere introduces “the houses” but it’s so dark and the camera work so shifty it’s difficult to see the performances or wardrobes. The lights get turned up in episode two, an improvement, but the judging criteria are mysterious — even the judges argue over competition category expectations.

“Looney Tunes Cartoons”: Similar sensibility and tone as past iterations with just enough modern references so these new 10-minute episodes don’t feel like reruns.

“Love Life”: Actress Anna Kendrick shines in this scripted romantic drama about one woman’s dating history over an eight-year period. “Love Life” lacks the HBO edge but it’s still the HBOiest of HBO Max’s early offerings, even as the characterization of Kendrick’s Darby is closer to Ally McBeal than Lena Dunham’s Hannah on “Girls.”

“The Not Too Late Show with Elmo”: The “Sesame Street” star hosts a 15-minute talk show interviewing stars (Jimmy Fallon, The Jonas Brothers) and welcoming musical guests (Kacey Musgraves sings “Rubber Duckie”).

“Not Too Late” makes occasional detours to a control room where the show seems like it might go full “Sports Night” but then it cuts back to Elmo’s antics.

It’s unclear who “Not Too Late” is aimed at — certainly not kids, who aren’t known for their love of celebrity interviews. Maybe it’s meant for die-hard Muppets fans? Even as one of those people, I’m not sure I would bother watching another episode.

‘Homecoming’ returns

Streaming Friday, season two of Amazon Prime Video’s moody thriller “Homecoming” picks up the first-season story eventually, but at the outset the show puts viewers in the same confused state as its new female lead, played by Janelle Monae.

Her character wakes in a rowboat in the middle of a lake and can’t remember anything from her past: Not her name, not how she got in the boat.

As she tries to figure that out, she finds an empty vial from Geist, the conglomerate behind the experimental drug that was supposed to cure vets of PTSD by erasing painful memories (but appeared to block more memories at the end of season one).

Geist is also the parent company of the Homecoming center that treated Army vet Walter Cruz (Stephan James) in season one. He’s back in a supporting capacity; season one star Julia Roberts does not return.

The new season’s second episode picks up the story from season one, untangling confusing character turns and detailing how events came to pass in a brilliantly executed bit of plot jujitsu that avoids retroactive continuity.

Audrey Temple (Hong Chau, “Westworld”) has taken over for Colin Belfast (season one’s Bobby Cannavale) but all is not well at Geist as company founder Leonard Geist (new cast member Chris Cooper) bemoans the failures of the Homecoming experiment in season one and the interest it elicits from the Department of Defense in season two (Joan Cusack is a scene-stealer as a high-ranking DOD liaison).

Writers Micah Bloomberg and Eli Horowitz weave these bits together well enough but even with just seven half-hour episodes, season two seems bloated.

Instead of a big reveal coming in episode eight as it did in season one, a huge twist comes at the end of episode two. The remaining five episodes then backfill character information, which fails to be as compelling as season one’s plot. And the style of season two, directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez (“13 Reasons Why”), lacks the Hitchcockian panache executive producer/director Sam Esmail established in season one.

‘Genetic Detective’

A deft melding of two TV genres — true crime and genealogy — ABC News’ “Genetic Detective” (10 p.m. Tuesday, WTAE-TV) follows the casework of genetic genealogist CeCe Moore as she retraces her investigations into criminal cold cases.

With a focus on the victims and science used as a tool to catch killers — there are no gory re-creations of the crimes committed — “Genetic Detective” is more cerebral than an Investigation Discovery show while it creatively — using visual graphics — explains the science and technological advancements that make these investigations possible.

Kept/ordered

CBS All Access renewed “The Good Fight” for a fifth season; season four ends prematurely with its seventh episode May 28th.

FX renewed “Breeders” for season two.

Fox renewed “Last Man Standing” and “The Resident” for 2020-21.

NBC renewed “Good Girls” for a fourth season.

Freeform will bring back “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” and “Motherland: Fort Salem” for second seasons.

OWN is developing a spin-off to “Greenleaf,” which begins its fifth and final season at 9 p.m. June 23.

CBS All Access will give fans what they’ve been asking for with an Enterprise-set series, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” featuring Capt. Pike (Anson Mount), Spock (Ethan Peck) and Number One (Rebecca Romijin).

Channel surfing

Next week PBS premieres “Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations” (9 p.m. May 26, WQED-TV), an 83-minute documentary film that includes the October 2018 assault on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill and played at the AMC Waterfront in March. ... Even digital subchannels are getting into “at-home” episodes as MeTV’s “Collector’s Call at Home” (9:30 p.m. Sunday) stays in with Lisa Whelchel (“Facts of Life”) hosting a remote interview with a sci-fi/horror collector from her Nashville home. … CBS announced a fall schedule that’s pretty similar to its 2019-20 lineup but it’s predicated on production resuming this summer.  … The title role on The CW’s “Batwoman” will be recast after star Ruby Rose exited the series this week.

Tuned In online

Today's TV Q&A column on the blog responds to questions about “Ozark,” “Who Do You Think You Are?” and local TV news. This week's Tuned In Journal includes posts on “DC’s Stargirl.” Read online-only TV content at http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment-living/tuned-in.

TV writer Rob Owen: rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2582. Follow RobOwenTV on Twitter or Facebook for breaking TV news.

First Published: May 21, 2020, 12:00 p.m.

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