Screen Time: What New TV And Movies To Watch This Week
This week in Screen Time, I sing the praises of High Potential, and why any fan of Bones (or just will-they-won’t-they relationships) should be watching it. I also share what’s all over my FYP, like reactions to The Summer I Turned Pretty series finale. There’s also what we’ve got going on over on BuzzFeed Celeb’s YouTube channel, and I share what four movies I would 100% grab if I were in the Criterion Closet, and I want to know what you would pick, too. Let’s go!
High Potential — watch for: A pretty perfect procedural with so much chemistry
High Potential was one of my favorite new shows last year, and I am so excited it’s back for a second season. The series follows Morgan (Kaitlin Olson), a single mom of three with an extremely high IQ, who begins working as a consultant for the LAPD. In Season 2, Morgan continues her work with the police, this time solving daily crimes but also working to catch the Game Maker (David Giuntoli), an elusive psychopath who was kidnapping people and now is targeting Morgan and her family.
Not only is High Potential a great procedural, but as someone who was raised on Bones, it has one of the best will-they-won’t-they relationships on TV right now between Morgan and her partner, Karadec (Daniel Sunjata). Listen, what can I say? Between Bones, Castle, and Lucifer, I am a sucker for a slow, SLOW burn romance between partners.
Task — watch for: An award-worthy performance from Tom Pelphrey
From the creator of the Emmy-winning series Mare of Easttown comes Task, a new drama series set in the world of the working-class suburbs of Philadelphia. The series follows an FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo), who suddenly finds himself leading a task force to end a string of violent robberies by an unsuspecting family man (Tom Pelphrey). The show is a quintessential HBO drama that will get you more and more invested with each episode. If I had to pick a show to be THE early frontrunner for next year’s award season, this would be it.
Task boasts an incredible supporting cast alongside Ruffalo and Pelphrey, like Emilia Jones, Thuso Mbedu, Fabien Frankel, Martha Plimpton, and more. However, it’s Pelphrey that stands out from the very first episode. You might know him from shows like Ozark or Love & Death (or because he’s Kaley Cuoco’s partner), but whether you’re a longtime fan of his or a newcomer, this is a performance you will not want to miss.
This week, over on BuzzFeed Celeb, we had Lola Tung, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno, Sean Kaufman, and Rain Spencer from The Summer I Turned Pretty swing by to answer a ton of questions while playing with super cute puppies. They shared what they took from set after filming wrapped — spoiler, a lot of clothes — and which scenes were their favorite to film over the course of the three seasons. Plus, we got to know them a little better, too, like how two of them say 10 Things I Hate About You is their favorite rom-com of all time. Click below (or here) to watch all of the cuteness:
BuzzFeed Celeb / Via youtube.com
No surprise whatsoever, but my FYP is all The Summer I Turned Pretty series finale. The must-watch show of the summer concluded this week when Conrad (Christopher Briney) went to Paris for Belly’s (Lola Tung) birthday. There was yearning. It was super sexy. And in the end, Belly FINALLY chose Conrad Fisher. I am so happy. Meanwhile, Taylor (Rain Spencer) and Steven (Sean Kaufman) got a happy ending, and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) found a passion for cooking, and he and Denise (Isabella Briggs) got together. While I was initially sad the episode left out some big moments from Jenny Han’s We’ll Always Have Summer epilogue, it was still a good episode, so here are the best and funniest reactions:
Okay, so my initial sadness — and, let’s be real, frustration — about the show leaving out some of the epilogue in the series finale quickly went away when, yesterday at their series finale party in Paris, Prime Video announced that The Summer I Turned Pretty will return with a movie written and directed by Jenny Han. The movie was announced alongside this stunning picture of Lola Tung and Christopher Briney, so yes, BONRAD THE MOVIE IS OFFICIALLY HAPPENING! Again, the reactions were a 10/10:
If you’re unfamiliar, the Criterion Closet is basically a cinephile’s dream. Started by the Criterion Collection, actors, directors, and more are sometimes invited to step into their archive of movies and leave with some of their favorite films on DVD. It’s my idea of heaven, basically. So if I were very overwhelmed and grabbing only four movies to take from the Criterion Closet, they would be: The Philadelphia Story, The Princess Bride, Moonstruck, and Now, Voyager. Four pretty perfect classic movies, in my opinion.
If you’re interested, you can browse their entire collection here, too.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week’s edition of Screen Time. Come back every week to get more TV and movie recommendations, find out which celebs we’re working with, and so much more!
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Have a question for me, or want to tell me what you’re watching right now, or have a suggestion of what I should watch next? Send it to me now at screentime@buzzfeed.com, in this Google form, or in the comments below!