Streamer Peacock shows off its original series
Comcast’s NBCUniversal streamer Peacock launched for Xfinity customers in April, but starting Wednesday the streaming service will be available nationally whether or not you subscribe to Comcast cable.
If HBO Max created consumer confusion with the multiple iterations of HBO, Peacock will likely cause some headscratching over its tiers: Peacock Free (7,500 hours of free TV shows and movies), Peacock Premium (free to Comcast subscribers, $4.99 for those who don’t have Comcast; this tier includes original series among its almost 20,000 hours of content) and an ad-free version (an additional $5 for everyone). The adsupported version is slated for just 5 minutes of ads per hour.
Comcast Flex and X1 customers can access Peacock by speaking “Peacock” into their voice-activated remote controls.
For those without Comcast, the Peacock app is available on Apple devices, Google (Android and Chromecast), Xbox One and Vizio and LG smart TVs. (So far, no deal for Peacock distribution via Verizon cable, Roku or Amazon’s Fire TV.)
The national Peacock launch marks the debut of original series on the premium tier.
“Psych” fans will be pleased to see the 2006-14 USA show revived for its second reunion movie, “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home,” featuring Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill) investigating an ambush on Santa Barbara police chief Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson).
For racing buffs, Dale Earnhardt Jr. created “Lost Speedways,” a nonfiction exploration of racetracks that have been forgotten, abandoned or overtaken by nature.
And then there are the three scripted series:
“Brave New World”: Easily the most ambitious and best of the scripted shows debuting next week, this adaptation of the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel of the same name imagines a future where privacy, monogamy, money, family and history are outlawed.
The production design is first-rate as “Brave New World” introduces New London, a sleek, Caprica-meets-Epcot city full of futuristic, brutalist architecture where Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd, “Game of Thrones”) is charged with the
investigation of a death that appears to be suicide. He tsktsks scientist Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay, “Downton Abbey”) about her “selfish,” monogamous relationship with Henry Foster (Sen Mitsuji). Note: This series doesn’t shy away from nudity.
Bernard and Lenina eventually make their way to the Savage Lands, “Brave New World’s” idea of a theme park, which is filled with 20th-century American backwoods and working-class cliches. There they meet stagehand John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich, “Solo: A Star Wars Story”) and his mother (Demi Moore).
Early on how these characters will connect is unclear. The social mores are foreign as viewers accustom to the culture and its stratified social class norms, including the way New Londoners regularly pop happy pills to remain in a chemically induced, unperturbed state.
“Brave New World” shifts in tone by episode four. Whether by showrunner David Weiner’s design or network notes, the show lightens up, allowing for more moments of dark humor but also some weird character turns.
“The Capture”: A conspiracy thriller, this 2019 British import offers a whiplash-inducing premiere that goes from, “This is a ridiculous investigation that appears to lack a crime” to “How is that possible?”
A commentary on the role of government security services and the use of CCTV in the posttruth/“fake news” era, the story centers on soldier Shaun Emery (Callum Turner) who’s acquitted of war crimes way too quickly — he’s in court in the morning and shows up at his daughter’s school hours later — before coming under suspicion in an assault and possible murder.
Detective inspector Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger, “Strike”) is on the case. She’s a polarizing figure, a whipsmart go-getter who sleeps with a superior and is bossy toward underlings.
The premiere sets up a somewhat dubious premise for a series. A second season was recently ordered.
“Intelligence”: Give this show the “Space Force” medal for unfunny comedy.
David Schwimmer (“Friends”) stars as Jerry Bernstein, an arrogant American NSA agent recruited to liaison with the U.K.’s intelligence and security branch, GCHQ.
Jerry’s a Grade-A jerk, an insecure know-it-all who immediately tries to push around GCHQ boss Chris (Sylvestra Le Touzel) as underling Joseph (Nick Mohammed) worships Jerry’s every churlish move.