TV Guide Magazine July 25, 2022

TV used to be simple. Cable box + remote + comfy chair. But smart TVs and streaming have changed that easy equation into some complicated algebra! TV GUIDE MAGAZINE launched a column of “How To” advice over a year and a half ago, and the first feature, “How to Start Streaming,” is still one of our most requested stories for a reprint. We thought this last triple issue was a good time for a refresher course, with a couple of our greatest “How To” hits and all-new tips and tricks for getting the most out of your television. My favorite: There’s one small pointer for finding out where any show is streaming that I wasn’t aware of before, and it has made my at-home searching so much easier! Streaming has also…

Smart Watch If you have 30 minutes, watch this episode Yes, Junior (Marcus Scribner) is now a freshman on grown-ish, but Aaron (Trevor Jackson), who’s teaching at Cal U, thinks the school is using him to show its diversity. Wednesday, July 27, 10/9c, Freeform If you have an hour, watch this season finale What will onetime onscreen Vulcan Zachary Quinto find out about his past? The genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? takes the Star Trek Beyond star back a few generations. Sunday, Aug. 14, 7/6c, NBC If you have a free evening, check out this film The 2018 rescue of a boy’s soccer team, stuck in a cave in Thailand for 18 days, gets a dramatic retelling in Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives, with Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton. Friday, Aug. 5,…

Hello once again, Norma Jeane. Yes, there have been countless film versions about the life of Hollywood’s quintessential Golden Age star, but in Netflix’s Blonde (premieres Friday, September 23), with Ana de Armas (left), the Marilyn Monroe story takes a turn toward the provocative. The streamer’s first film to earn an NC-17 rating is based on Joyce Carol Oates’ 2000 novel, which suggests Marilyn may have been killed. Blonde costars Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale as two of Monroe’s famous husbands, Arthur Miller and Joe DiMaggio, respectively. —Robert Edelstein The Show We’re Talking About in the Office Life in a commercial kitchen ain’t glamorous. It’s sweaty, loud and chaotic—and on FX’s gripping dramedy The Bear (also on Hulu), it’s exhilarating. The story has exceptional ingredients: Award-winning chef Carmy (Shameless vet Jeremy Allen White,…

@TVGMMattRoush DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE Thursday, July 21, HBO Max SHE WAS THE more assured, accomplished, natural actor, winning an Oscar in her twenties. He was the embodiment of a matinee idol, emotionally reserved but dazzling to behold. The 50-year marriage and professional partnership of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward (including 16 films together) was not without its rocky patches, but it’s an enduring love story rare among celluloid icons. (He died of cancer in 2008; at 92, she is living with Alzheimer’s.) We learn loads about their careers, lives and struggles over the immersive, exhaustive six chapters of The Last Movie Stars, compiled and directed with giddy zeal by an earnestly frenzied Ethan Hawke. Ever the curious enthusiast, he is often shown gushing about his subjects and debating his creative decisions in Zoom sessions with…

@TVGMMattRoush We looked forward to The Terminal List on Prime Video but were so disappointed that it’s shot so dark we can’t even see it! Ridiculous! What happened to the quality of filming? Please put some lights on the actors’ faces so we know who they are. This is another show we won’t bother trying to view. —Connie MATT ROUSH: Next to loud background music, low-light cinematography is by far the most common complaint I receive about TV. I’d heard this was an extreme case, but even by today’s standards, I was shocked by the interior gloom. I typically suggest adjusting the light balance on your TV to compensate, but I agree that just moving on to the next streaming series might be the better solution. Having read Thomas Perry’s thriller The Old…

COMEDY To no one’s surprise, last year’s big winner, Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso, dominated with 20 nominations, including 10 in acting alone. But the big news in the comedy field was the triumphant arrival of ABC’s hilarious Abbott Elemen tary, which beat the odds against the Emmys’ aversion to network TV with seven nods, including for creator-star Quinta Brunson and costars Janelle James, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Tyler James Williams. (CBS’s new hit Ghosts wasn’t so lucky, and got completely shut out.) Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building made an even bigger splash in its first season with 17 nominations, including for legends Steve Martin and Martin Short and guest actors Nathan Lane and Jane Lynch—but curiously, not for costar Selena Gomez. DRAMA NBC’s emotional final season of This Is Us made no impact,…