Moon memories and ‘Big Little Lies’
More than one small step for a man, Neil Armstrong’s historic moonwalk depended on a small army. “Apollo: The Forgotten Films” (8 p.m. Saturday, Discovery; 7 p.m. Sunday, Science) offers viewers a behind-the-scenes glance at the more than 40,000 engineers, scientists and mathematicians that spent years preparing for the first eight-day voyage to the lunar surface and back.
› What was it like to travel to the moon? “Confessions From Space: Apollo” (10 p.m. Saturday, Discovery) documents a celebration of the lunar missions at the Explorer’s Club, featuring stories from astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16).
› “Moon Landing Live” (9 p.m. Saturday, BBC America, TV-14) recalls how television covered the historic moon landing and first steps. “Live” collects news footage from every corner of the globe, showing how the singular moment was reported in various ways to an audience estimated to be roughly half a billion people.
› “Big Little Lies” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO, TV-MA) has set up the perfect ending to its second season. The courtroom showdown between Celeste (Nicole Kidman) and Mary Louise (Meryl Streep) celebrates the strengths and weaknesses of the show’s writing.
Created by lawyer-turned-television producer and scribe David E. Kelley, “Lies” rarely deviates from his formulaic approach. Nearly everybody always sounds like they’re being deposed. People don’t so much share dialogue as spout monologues. In last week’s over-the-top episode, Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) gushes out a tipsy confession while wearing her bridal veil. Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz) also spurts out a confession and indictment to her comatose mother. It’s David E. Kelley land. Everybody speaks in whole paragraphs.
Fans of the series can catch up with last week’s episode (8 p.m. Sunday, HBO2, repeat, TV-MA) and the whole setup for tonight’s courtroom clash.
› “The Movies” (9 p.m. Sunday, CNN) recalls the films from 2000 to the present, including “Moulin Rouge,” and the “Harry
Potter” and “Lord of the Rings” franchises. Graphics of the title sequences is a dead giveaway that the makers don’t put a lot of credence in the movies of the past two decades.
› I never tire of repeating a great line from Alfred Hitchcock. When asked why his movies weren’t more like “real life,” he replied that they were like real life, “but without the boring bits.”
This brings me to the subject of “Sweetbitter” (9 p.m. Sunday, Starz, TV-MA), now in its second season. Ella Purnell stars as Tess, new to New York and working at a fancy restaurant. Based on a novel by Stephanie Danler, the show is supposed to follow the naive, pretty and saucer-eyed woman as her fellow staff workers introduce her to the vices of the big city.
Writers from Anthony Bourdain to George Orwell have described the eccentric and dark underworld of kitchen staff. I admire
“Sweetbitter” for trying to capture the promise and drama of a first job. There’s something alluring about just starting out.
But the folks here don’t seem so much eccentric as dronelike. They discuss having a hangover like it’s a major accomplishment. Where are the eccentric characters who simply see this as a “day job” to pay the bills while they write their first novel or stage their big play? Where are the big dreams of youth? Tess seems interested when the creepy boss (Paul Sparks) offers some pretentious drivel about “farmto-table” dining, but for the most part the characters are lacking in interesting opinions and drive. The main focus appears to be on the process and politics of working in the kitchen. In Hitchcock’s words, “Sweetbitter” keeps the emphasis on the “boring bits.”
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin .tvguy@gmail.com.