Comcast’s NBCUniversal streamer Peacock launched for Xfinity customers in April, but starting Wednesday the streaming service will be available nationally whether or not you subscribe to Comcast cable.
If HBO Max created consumer confusion with the multiple iterations of HBO, Peacock will likely cause some head-scratching over its tiers: Peacock Free (7,500 hours of free TV shows and movies), Peacock Premium (free to Comcast subscribers, $4.99 for those who don’t have Comcast; this tier includes original series among its almost 20,000 hours of content) and an ad-free version (an additional $5 for everyone). The ad-supported version is slated for just five minutes of ads per hour, a low load.
Comcast Flex and X1 customers can access Peacock by speaking “Peacock” into their voice-activated remote controls.
For those without Comcast, the Peacock app is available on Apple devices, Google (Android and Chromecast), Xbox One and Vizio and LG smart TVs. (So far, no deal for Peacock distribution via Verizon cable, Roku or Amazon’s Fire TV.)
The national Peacock launch marks the debut of original series on the premium tier.
“Psych” fans will be pleased to see the 2006-14 USA show revived for its second reunion movie, “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home,” featuring Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill) investigating an ambush on Santa Barbara police chief Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson).
For racing buffs, Dale Earnhardt Jr. created “Lost Speedways,” a nonfiction exploration of racetracks that have been forgotten, abandoned or overtaken by nature.
And then there are the three scripted series that generally sound more promising on paper than they turned out:
“Brave New World”: Easily the most ambitious and best of the scripted shows debuting next week, this adaptation of the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel of the same name imagines a future where privacy, monogamy, money, family and history are outlawed.
The production design is first-rate as “Brave New World” introduces New London, a sleek, Caprica-meets-Epcot city full of futuristic, brutalist architecture where Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd, “Game of Thrones”) is charged with the investigation of a death that appears to be suicide. He also tsk-tsks scientist Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay, “Downton Abbey”) about her “selfish,” monogamous relationship with Henry Foster (Sen Mitsuji). New Londoners are known for their orgasmic writhing in this series that doesn’t shy away from nudity.
Bernard and Lenina eventually make their way to the Savage Lands, “Brave New World’s” idea of a theme park (shades of “Westworld” but filled with 20th-century American backwoods and working-class cliches). There they meet stagehand John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich, “Solo: A Star Wars Story”) and his mother (Demi Moore).
This all takes several episodes to play out. Early on how these characters will connect is unclear. The social mores are foreign as viewers accustom to the culture and its stratified social class norms, including the way New Londoners regularly pop happy pills to remain in a chemically induced, unperturbed state.
“Brave New World” begins as mostly serious and dystopian, but by episode four there’s a shift in tone. Whether by showrunner David Weiner’s design or network notes, the show lightens up, allowing for more moments of dark humor but also some weird character turns. Initially Bernard seems like the audience’s intended entry point, but after his Savage Lands visit he grows more buffoonish.
“The Capture”: A conspiracy thriller, this 2019 British import offers a whiplash-inducing premiere that goes from, “This is a ridiculous investigation that appears to lack a crime” to “How is that possible?”
A commentary on the role of government security services and the use of CCTV in the post-truth/“fake news” era, the story centers on soldier Shaun Emery (Callum Turner, who evinces a younger, quieter Shawn Hatosy), who’s acquitted of war crimes way too quickly — he’s in court in the morning and shows up at his daughter’s school hours later — before coming under suspicion in an assault and possible murder.
Detective inspector Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger, “Strike”) is on the case. She’s a polarizing figure, a whip-smart go-getter who sleeps with a superior and is bossy toward underlings.
The premiere sets up a somewhat dubious premise for a series that by many accounts ends its first season on an ambiguous, unsatisfying note. A second season was recently ordered.
“Intelligence”: Give this show the “Space Force” medal for unfunny comedy. And as bad as “Space Force” was, Netflix’s Steve Carell disappointment was still better than this dud.
David Schwimmer (“Friends”) stars in “Intelligence” as Jerry Bernstein, an arrogant, detestable American NSA agent recruited to liaison with the U.K.’s intelligence and security branch, GCHQ. Jerry’s a Grade-A jerk, an insecure know-it-all who immediately tries to push around GCHQ boss Chris (Sylvestra Le Touzel) even as inept underling Joseph (Nick Mohammed, who created the show) worships Jerry’s every churlish move.
Tom Hanks’ ‘Greyhound’
Originally intended for theaters, the pandemic rerouted this Tom Hanks-starring World War II thriller to streamer Apple TV+.
Streaming Friday, “Greyhound” marks a worthy if slight addition to the Tom Hanks-starring/producing greatest generation oeuvre that includes “Saving Private Ryan” and HBO’s “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.”
This time Hanks, who wrote the screenplay based on the novel “The Good Shepherd” by C.S. Forester, stars as a first-time Navy captain aboard a convoy escort ship in the Atlantic during World War II. “Greyhound” chronicles a five-day period during which the convoy goes without air cover as the American ship plays cat-and-mouse with German subs.
Some semi-familiar faces show up in supporting roles — Tom Brittney (“Grantchester”), Karl Glusman (“Devs,” “Love”) — but the focus is squarely on Hanks’ leader. But in the end viewers don’t learn much about him except he’s loyal, prays before meals and has a love interest back home (Elisabeth Shue, “Adventures in Babysitting”).
“Greyhound,” directed by Aaron Schneider, is a sufficient exercise in efficient tension-building — the running time is just 90 minutes — elevated by Hanks’ performance and impressive CGI wartime effects.
‘United We Fall’
Even in a pandemic with a looming TV drought this fall if shows can’t get back into production, ABC opted for a summer burn-off of the completed first (and sure to be only) season of family sitcom “United We Fall” (8 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, WTAE-TV).
This paint-by-numbers series has everything you expect in a lousy ’90s comedy but don’t want: The judgmental mother-in-law (Jane Curtin, who deserves so much better), the precocious oddball 6-year-old who eventually does the right thing, and the shlubby dad (Will Sasso) with a way more attractive wife (Christina Vidal-Mitchell). Come for the predictable humor, run screaming when there’s a gag — in every sense of the word — involving a child’s prolapsed rectum.
Kept/canceled/revived
Netflix renewed “The Kominsky Method” and “Dead to Me” both for third and final seasons. Netflix renewed “The Last Kingdom” for a fifth season.
Hulu renewed “The Great” for season two.
The CW renewed “DC’s Stargirl” for a second season (the show will exit DC Universe). The CW canceled “Katy Keene” after one season.
MTV Studios will revive a reimagined version of cult hit “Clone High.”
John Mulaney’s Netflix special “Sack Lunch Bunch” will return for at least two more installments on Comedy Central.
HBO Max ordered “Young Love,” a 12-episode animated series based on the Oscar-winning short “Hair Love.”
ABC ordered a pilot for a remake of “The Wonder Years,” again set in the 1960s but told from the perspective of an African American family.
NBC ordered a 13-episode reboot of game show “Weakest Link” to be hosted by Jane Lynch.
Channel surfing
Former Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith has joined CNBC and will anchor a one-hour news program (7 p.m. weekdays) beginning this fall. ... Disney+ will debut “Phineas & Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe” on Aug. 28. … FX’s joint venture with The New York Times, “The Weekly,” will become a monthly documentary series with the first installment featuring New York City doctors and nurses during the pandemic (10 p.m. Friday). Future installments will look at the making of a pop star (10 p.m. Aug. 7) and the March killing of Breonna Taylor by police in Kentucky.
Tuned In online
Today’s TV Q&A column on the blog responds to questions about “Council of Dads,” a “Star Wars” TV series, “This Is Us” and a WPXI weathercaster. This week’s Tuned In Journal includes posts on “The Vote” on PBS’s “American Experience.” 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: July 9, 2020, 1:45 p.m.