This week: a Quantico thriller, the debut of the animated ‘Mulligan,’ and the return of ‘The Great’
1. “City on Fire,” based on Garth Risk Hallberg’s 2015 novel, is about an NYU student who is shot in Central Park — in 2003, changed from the 1970s of the novel. There are no witnesses and little physical evidence, but her murder may be the crucial connection between a bunch of mysterious fires, the downtown music scene, and a wealthy family. The eight-episode show, which premieres Friday on Apple TV+, stars Wyatt Oleff, Chase Sui Wonders, Jemima Kirke, Nico Tortorella, and John Cameron Mitchell.
2. On Wednesday, Hulu is premiering an eight-episode thriller about a group of Quantico graduates. Called “Class of ’09,” it jumps between three time periods across three decades (the 2000s, 2023, and a decade from now) as the graduates’ lives intertwine. In the future “Minority Report”-like scenes, artificial intelligence technology has altered the justice system. From writer Tom Rob Smith of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” the show features Brian Tyree Henry, Kate Mara, Sepideh Moafi, Brooke Smith, and Jake McDorman.
3. From a bunch of folks behind “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” including Robert Carlock as co-creator, “Mulligan” is an animated Netflix comedy premiering on Friday. The premise: Earth is destroyed by aliens, and a few survivors need to start over and get it right this time. The star voices: Dana Carvey, Nat Faxon, Ayo Edebiri, Chrissy Teigen, Tina Fey, Sam Richardson, and Daniel Radcliffe.
4. I recently wrote a piece for the Globe about profanity on TV, and a number of readers were “very no.” Those “very no” people need to stay far away from “The
Great,” along with those who can’t handle historical inaccuracy. The comedy about Catherine the Great, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, is filled with both. It returns to Hulu for its third season on Friday, and all 10 episodes will be available.
5. A pair of movies of note are coming to streaming this week.
“Air,” directed by Ben Affleck and starring Affleck and Matt Damon, comes to Amazon on Friday. Costars include Viola Davis, Marlon Wayans, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, and Chris Tucker. Also on Friday, “Still: A Michael J. Fox
Movie” comes to Apple TV+. It’s a documentary featuring Fox, 61, recounting his career and the Parkinson’s diagnosis that, as he puts it, has made him a “tough son of a bitch.”