The week ahead: Oscars, ‘Gentlemen,’ and ‘Queens’
Seeing one of its own in the running — a toolong, star-filled event featuring bad decisions — the Oscars will most likely give the best picture award to “Oppenheimer.” (Yes, that’s a knock.) The telecast, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the fourth time, is starting earlier this year — Sunday at 7 p.m. on ABC — in an effort to make the night a little less grueling for viewers. Performers will include Ryan Gosling (singing “I’m Just Ken”), Jon Batiste, and Billie Eilish, and presenters will include Nicolas Cage, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Jessica Lange, Matthew McConaughey, Lupita Nyong’o, Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michelle Yeoh, Zendaya, Kate McKinnon, Rita Moreno, and John Mulaney.
2. Director Guy Ritchie has adapted his 2019 movie “The Gentlemen” into an eight-episode series. The idea is that an English aristocrat — played by Theo James of “The White Lotus” and “Divergent” — inherits his late father’s massive country estate, unaware that it’s housing a weed empire. He is not especially displeased. The show, which premieres Thursday on Netflix, also stars Ray Winstone, Joely Richardson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kaya Scodelario.
3. Politics. Super Tuesday is upon us, when more than one-third of the total delegates available in both the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries will be awarded. Of course we already know who the front-runners are — but there will be mass coverage and analysis on TV that night. Then, on Thursday at 9 p.m., on all the networks and news channels, President Biden will deliver his third State of the Union Address to a joint meeting of the US Congress.
4. They don’t call it Father Nature. “Queens” is a seven-episode docu-series that profiles various matriarchies and female leaders in the natural world and how they rose to power. Do they often rely on cooperation over brute strength to get ahead? I’m thinking yes. Angela Bassett narrates the show, which premieres Monday at 9 p.m. on National Geographic and begins streaming Tuesday on Hulu and Disney+.