Apple TV+, 3:00 a.m. ET
MOVIE PREMIERE: Tom Hanks not only stars in this WWII drama, playing a commander escorting a convoy of Allied ships across German U-boat-infested waters, but wrote it as well. It sounds massively big in scale and budget, but Greyhound (the name of the vessel Hanks’ character commands) is oddly compact and focused. It’s almost like an Allied version of Das Boot, with the claustrophobia and paranoia part of the mix on and under the ocean waves. Hanks basically has to carry the whole thing… and, being Tom Hanks, he does.
Apple TV+, 3:00 a.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: The first three episodes of this new drama series with music premiere today, with the remainder arriving once weekly on subsequent Fridays. It’s about Bess, a young singer-songwriter trying to make it in New York. Bess is played by Brittany O’Grady, who already played one aspiring singer in
Star – but here, she has a behind-the-scenes advantage or two. The songs sung and allegedly written by Bess actually are composed by Sara Bareilles, who produces this series along with Jessie Nelson (Bareilles’ collaborator on the successful Broadway musical adaptation of
Waitress) and J.J. Abrams. Abrams, of course, began his career by charting the dreams and lives of young protagonists, from
Felicity to
Alias. Basically,
Alias was Felicity as a spy – and it’s not so hard to imagine
Little Voice as Felicity as a singer.
For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
Hulu, 3:00 a.m. ET
MOVIE PREMIERE: Cristin Milioti, in the “USS Callister” episode of Black Mirror, played a woman suddenly thrust into an unreal world from which there seemed to be no escape. Here comes a reset of sorts: Palm Springs stars Andy Samberg as a man caught in a Groundhog Day loop on the day of a friend’s wedding, and Milioti plays the bride’s maid of honor, who gets pulled into the seemingly endless cycle of reliving the same day. As with Groundhog Day, the fun comes with the variations without consequences, and the message comes when the couple – and one other time-loop captive, played by JK Simmons – learn the lessons they need to absorb in order to break the cycle. Blatant Groundhog Day ripoff? Yes. Without merit? No.
Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
MOVIE PREMIERE: Based on the graphic novel series, this new Netflix movie stars Charlize Theron as the leader of a small band of immortal warriors who spend century after century fighting the good fights without being captured or identified. In this movie-length adaptation of the comic-book series, two major things happen: The group discovers a potential new member, and outsiders potentially discover all of them…
Disney Channel, 8:00 p.m. ET
SPECIAL PREMIERE: Earlier variations on this theme were staged and presented by ABC, which, of course, is owned by Disney. This new edition, pegged to summer, is televised by Disney Channel. ABC, Disney Channel, Disney+ -- wherever you turn these days, it’s a Mickey Mouse operation.
Decades, 9:00 p.m. ET
Decades presents yet another of TV’s tributes to Carl Reiner, but this one’s a doozy. It begins with an installment of The Dick Cavett Show in which Reiner is the guest. Then, at 9:30 p.m. ET, presents Head of the Family (pictured), the unsold 1960 pilot written by and starring Reiner – which, when completely recast but still telling the story of TV writer Rob Petrie, became the massively successful The Dick Van Dyke Show. And then, at 10 p.m. ET, two of the Dick Van Dyke episodes showcasing Reiner in top form: “Coast to Coast Big Mouth” (which already has been shown in at least two other Reiner tributes, on CBS and MeTV) and “A Day in the Life of Alan Brady.”