In Screen Gab No. 118, TV critic Robert Lloyd welcomes “Abbott Elementary” from its strike-prolonged summer vacation, plus Sarayu Blue swings by to discuss her Amazon Prime Video series “Expats” and we suggest ideas for what to stream this weekend.
ICYMI: The Grammys
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(Ross May / Los Angeles Times; Photos by Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty Images; Amy Sussman / Getty Images)
This year, the Grammys were stuck between Taylor Swift and a hard place: “Midnights’” anointment at the Grammys feels like a reflexive response to Swift’s omnipresence, crowding out more impressive work — namely SZA’s masterful “SOS” — in the name of remaining “in touch.”
Review: Jay-Z spoke the truth at the Grammys. The rest of the show made it sorely obvious: Jay-Z’s comments about who gets overlooked by the Grammys interrupted regularly scheduled programming in a ceremony that badly needed it.
The best and worst moments of the 2024 Grammys, as they happened: Read our complete coverage of the awards, including an unforgettable In Memoriam segment, Taylor Swift’s new album and more.
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Turn on
Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
Adam Brody and Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction.”
(Orion Pictures)
“American Fiction” (VOD, multiple platforms)
When writer/director Cord Jefferson’s first feature premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, its Audience Award win — that longtime Oscar launchpad — seemed, from the uproar it caused in the theater, something like an inevitability. But I’d argue it’s not the film’s keen satire of American media (and liberal common sense) that secured “American Fiction,” now on VOD, an impressive five Oscar nominations, including for picture, Jefferson (adapted screenplay), lead actor Jeffrey Wright and supporting actor Sterling K. Brown. Between the comic beats of author Theolonious “Monk” Ellison’s odyssey from ivory tower snob to populist shill — for writing the very sort of “stereotypically Black” novel he usually loathes — Jefferson, working from the template of Percival Everett’s novel “Erasure,” finds a layered family dramedy, using grief, romance and sibling rivalry to ground its cultural absurdities in human truths. (Indeed, Tracee Ellis Ross’ all-too-brief appearance as Monk’s sister is one of my favorite performances of 2023.) The only false note in the entire film may be the notion that Brown would be anything but overrun if he stepped into a gay bar. As if. —Matt Brennan
Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, left, and Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons in “Kings from Queens: The Run DMC Story.”
(Peacock)
“Kings from Queens: The Run DMC Story” (Peacock)
Engrossing, affecting, thoughtful and often charming, the three-part “Kings from Queens: The Run DMC Story” (Peacock) charts the history of the record-setting, barrier-breaking, minimalist hip-hop trio from the streets of Hollis to a stage at Yankee Stadium. Like most music documentaries nowadays, it includes its subjects as producers, which guarantees the participation of surviving members Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels (Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell having been killed in 2002). Also present are family members, colleagues and a stellar cast of musicians, influences and influenced alike, including Kurtis Blow, Chuck D., Ice-T, Ice Cube, LL Cool J, MC Lyte, Questlove and Salt of Salt-N-Pepa. Though spiritual and existential crises are duly recalled, this is not “Behind the Music” but a more valuable story of art and community, of self-definition and self-expression, of change and what remains. Styles come and go, but innovators who stay true to themselves may, after 40 years in show business, qualify as classic. —Robert Lloyd
Catch up
Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about
Lisa Ann Walter, from left, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Tyler James Williams and Janelle James in “Abbott Elementary.”
(Gilles Mingasson / Disney)
Quinta Brunson’s “Abbott Elementary” (ABC, Hulu) returned this week for a third season. Without a doubt the most lauded and arguably the most lovable of traditional situation comedies, it has snatched back some glory for network television: witness Brunson’s Emmy Award for lead actress in a comedy at the most recent Emmys, Emmys in 2022 for her writing and for supporting actress Sheryl Lee Ralph; Golden Globes in 2023 for the series, Brunson and supporting actor Tyler James Williams; and, most appropriately, a 2023 Screen Actors Guild for the ensemble. Though the journey of Brunson’s second-grade teacher Janine Teagues — plucky, idealistic, somewhat prone to disaster — is at the heart of the series, in practice the cast is a team of equals, characters in perfect balance, each of whom, owing to the long broadcast season, we have come to know well. Season 2 found the beleaguered inner-city Abbott surviving the threat of being converted into a charter school — the series is a warts-and-all love letter to traditional public education — and continued the excruciatingly slow-to-fire promise of a romance between Janine and reluctant substitute turned full-time teacher Gregory Eddie (Williams), which having cleared inconvenient boyfriends and girlfriends from their path, ended with their decision to remain friends. The Season 3 premiere finds them at the beginning of a new semester, with Janine being offered a fellowship at “the district,” which would take her out of school, and Janelle James’ self-admiring, self-promoting principal Ava Coleman — having spent the summer “physically located within the legal property lines of Harvard” — driving the staff crazy with her impression of an actually concerned administrator. As for Janine and Gregory — well, it’s a new year. —Robert Lloyd
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Nicole Kidman and Sarayu Blue in “Expats.”
(Jupiter Wong / Prime Video)
Sarayu Blue has been a familiar face on screens large and small for more than a decade now, including a pair of recent, high-profile Netflix projects, “Never Have I Ever” and “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” But Lulu Wang’s “Expats,” which premiered Jan. 26 on Amazon Prime Video, allows her to sink her teeth into one of her most ambitious roles yet: Hilary Starr, an American expatriate in Hong Kong attempting to comfort her best friend, Margaret (Nicole Kidman), after the disappearance of her child, all while navigating the shoals of her own failing marriage. Blue joined Screen Gab recently to discuss her still-forming expatriate dreams, what she’s watching and more. —Matt Brennan
What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?
It’s not recent but I’ll never stop recommending “Everything Everywhere All at Once” [Prime Video]. I’m still not over it. But more recently, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” [Prime Video] — Maya Erskine and Donald Glover are unstoppable geniuses.
What is your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?
“When Harry Met Sally” [Tubi] or “Brown Sugar” [Starz].
“Expats” follows the intersecting lives of three American women living abroad in Hong Kong. If you could live anywhere outside of the U.S., where would it be and why?
I don’t have one place precisely — or I don’t know what it is yet. But I’ve had fantasies for a while now of living somewhere small and warm, where good food and a strong sense of community are valued, where there’s a yard for all of the dogs I want to adopt, and I can watch the sun set.
Series writer-director Lulu Wang told The Times’ Jireh Deng that her fears around this project shifted from properly representing her family, as in ‘The Farewell,’ to representing an entire city. Have you felt the same pressures around representation in your career? If so, how did you deal with it?
I’m not sure how to be human and not feel it all. I feel honored to be a part of South Asian representation. And naturally, when you’re someone who cares, the fears come in too — fears of doing it wrong, or not honoring our community perfectly. I deal with it by talking to my inner circle, fellow friends/creatives who feel similarly, and I’m forever thankful for therapy.