‘Next Thing’ eyes robots in the kitchen

I used to believe that everything television touches becomes television. And, from sports to politics, that has remained the case.

In the past several decades, technology, from smartphones to social media apps, has begun to set the agenda. Do people exercise to get fit or to “please” their Pelotons and Fitbits?

Streaming on Hulu, the new six-part series “The Next Thing You Eat,” explores the ways that technology has already changed and is in the process of revolutionizing the food industry.

A collaboration between chef David Chang and filmmaker Morgan Neville (“20 Feet From Stardom”), “Thing” contemplates the future of dining, which includes robot and drone deliveries, automated burger-flippers, computer-run fish farms, synthetic meats and gourmet items made from insects.

Chang discusses his own experiences with food delivery services that devoured more than 30% of his revenues, a non-starter for restaurants often running on microscopic margins. The search for something more efficient takes the series to Mumbai, where a venerable food delivery system works entirely off the grid, relying instead on thousands of cyclists and intricately labeled lunch buckets, or tiffins.

Thought-provoking and a tad terrifying at the same time, “Thing” showcases Chang’s iconoclastic philosophy as well as his practical experience as a chef and entrepreneur.

› A far goofier approach to food, the holiday-themed baking competition special “Snoop and Martha’s Very Tasty Halloween” streams on Peacock. Three teams of bakers and confectioners compete to win the chance to cater for the odd pop culture power couple, preparing Halloween-themed treats against the backdrop of an over-the-top haunted house and Snoop’s halfbaked puns and stoner innuendos. Harmless, but possibly habit-forming.

› Released recently in theaters, the 2021 documentary “Introducing Selma Blair” streams on Discovery+, beginning today. In it, the popular star of “Legally Blonde” and “Cruel Intentions” discusses

her life since receiving a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2018.

› The premium service Curiosity Stream debuts “Keeping the Crown.” Rather than emphasize the pageantry, pomp and bling of the sceptered set, “Keeping” explores how the world’s royals pioneered the art of public relations to cover up scandals, mysterious deaths and governing dysfunction. The art of royal

PR dates back to the era of Victoria in Britain and early 20th-century Russia, where the Romanovs discovered that they could not spin their way out of military disasters and multiple revolutions.

Curiosity Stream offers a wide range of documentaries long and short as well as a curated collection of thought-provoking movies.