‘Simpsons’ creator launches Netflix show
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — For his first TV series since “Futurama,” which debuted almost 20 years ago, creator Matt Groening moved from Fox to Netflix for “Disenchantment,” which is now streaming.
The character designs and much of the style of humor will be familiar to fans of “The Simpsons” and “Futurama,” although “Disenchantment” seems less funny right off the bat.
Part of that is due to the running time of episodes, which run beyond the 22 minutes (without commercials) of a broadcast network show. The pilot clocks in at 35 minutes as it introduces a determined, not princessy princess, Bean (voice of Abbi Jacobson, “Broad City”); her demon friend, Luci (voice of Eric Andre, well cast) and Elfo (voice of Nat Faxon), a woodland sprite.
The trio team up to help Bean get out of an arranged marriage and then, well, viewers will have to keep watching. And watching. And watching.
“Disenchantment” is serialized. Unlike the close-ended stories on “The Simpsons,” which allow viewers to dip in and out, “Disenchantment” wants to encourage a binge of the first season’s 10 episodes, which are now available. (Another 10 will debut at a later, yet-to-be-announced date.)
“This is seriously serialized where we have the major arcs for all the main characters in the first 10, over the first 20 [episodes] and we actually know how this series is going to end as well,” said executive producer Josh Weinstein last month at a Netflix press conference during the Television Critics Association summer 2018 press tour. “Being allowed to tell these sort of canonical series arc stories is a huge freedom and also a big challenge for us.”
Mr. Groening said Team “Disenchantment” sees the show as Bean’s coming-of-age story set against a medieval backdrop and plotted the first season as a drama before adding jokes. They acknowledge the pace of the comedy won’t be what fans of “The Simpsons” are accustomed to.
“In this show, we are able to let it breathe a little bit more, and that’s
more gratifying to vary the pace,” Mr. Groening said. “There’s a certain kind of setup, punchline, setup, punchline in a lot of comedy these days. And it’s fun to withhold the joke for a little bit, and then it seems to be more surprising when it does come.”
The first two episodes of “Disenchantment” are more amusing than funny with entertaining enough puns and parodies of modern-day brands in the names of shops in the Kingdom of Dreamland. For example, the sign for Little Seizure’s Poison Shop includes a character saying “Seizure! Seizure!” a la Little Caesars pizza.
Visual gags like these are enjoyable, as are a few unexpected plot twists, but it’s not enough to warrant binge viewing.
Final ‘Sharknado’
The Syfy movie series that spawned thousands of social media impressions when it began in 2013 comes to a deserved end in “The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time” (8 p.m. Sunday).
What began as a sublimely ridiculous pop culture sensation devolved over its first five films into just a junky exercise in bloated storytelling and C-list celebrity
No. 6 is more of the same with an often nonsensical time travel story that sends Fin (Ian Ziering) and family/ friends (including some who died in past movies but are resurrected here) jumping through time — via bad special effects — to the era of dinosaurs, Merlin (with a cameo by University of Pittsburgh grad and former “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Alaska, aka Justin Honrad), the Revolutionary War, the Old West, 1997 and ahead to the year 20013.
The best cameo is a reunion between Mr. Ziering and his “90210” co-star Tori Spelling, who plays Fin’s mom in the 1950s.
“You look so familiar,” she says. “Did we go to high school together?”
Perhaps most reassuringly the whole franchise wraps with an attempt at a sentimental ending that leaves no dangling threads for future “Sharknado” endeavors.
‘RBG’ on CNN
Recent theatrical documentary hit “RBG,” about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will have its cable premiere at 9 p.m. Sept. 3 on CNN.
A companion podcast, “Beyond Notorious,” will be available on podcasting services Aug. 20.
Kept/canceled/rebooted
History renewed “Knightfall” for a second season with Mark Hamill (”Star Wars”) joining the cast.
“Castle Rock” will be back for a second season on Hulu.
Heaven help us, TLC renewed “Dr. Pimple Popper” for a second season to air in January.
Netflix renewed “Anne with an E” for season three.
USA canceled “Shooter” after three seasons.
“Designing Women” creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is working on a “Designing Women” revival for Sony, per The Hollywood Reporter. Presumably it would involve a largely new cast since original series stars Dixie Carter, Meshach Taylor and Jan Hooks are deceased, Annie Potts is a regular on “Young Sheldon,” Jean Smart is a regular on “Legion” and Delta Burke hasn’t acted on TV much in recent years.
Channel surfing
Actor Ethan Peck (TV’s “10 Things I Hate About You”) has been cast as Spock in season two of “Star Trek: Discovery” on CBS All Access. … Netflix’s “Atypical,” about a teen on the autistic spectrum, returns for its second season Sept. 7. … Sesame Workshop’s new animated series promoting learning through play and mindfulness, “Esme & Roy,” debuts at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on HBO. … Pine-based PBS pledge programming producer T.J. Lubinsky’s latest “My Music” special, “Dionne Warwick: Then Came You,” debuts on WQED-TV at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Tuned In online
Today’s TV Q&A column responds to questions about “UnReal,” “Grace and Frankie” and Decades channel. This week’s Tuned In Journal includes posts on “Get Shorty.” Read onlineonly TV content at http:// communityvoices.post-gazette.