Thursday Movie Picks #342: TMP Television Edition - 2020 Freshmen Series

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five titles and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition -  2020 Freshmen Series

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Limited series cannot be included today. Because the theme does refer to Freshmen, which means the first season of a series and limited series with only the one season is not the first of anything. So there goes my possible pick of Queen's Gambit and Little Fires Everywhere. No matter, I still saw plenty of good ones that had their first season in 2020. All of the series I picked today have been renewed for a second season, but who knows with the ongoing pandemic...there have been other renewals that were eventually scrapped. So here's hoping they all still get their second season.

Home Before Dark (2020 - )
A young girl and her family moves back to her father's childhood home in a small town after he loses his newspaper job in the city. An aspiring journalist herself, she starts her own newspaper and begins to dig into the unsolved case of her father's still missing best friend who had been abducted as a child. While clearly made for tweens and teens in mind, it was still surprisingly good and one adults can enjoy...the way Pixar movie manages the right amount of darkness and heartbreak while still being acceptable for kids. The young lead actress is the standout in this atmospheric mystery which was only partway solved in the first season so I'm glad this series is getting a second season.

Outer Banks (2020 -  )

A group teens who are the poorer year round residents of the Outer Banks go on a search for a long lost treasure. When this came out, there had been some comparisons with the other Netflix show about poor kids also featuring a treasure hunt which had a diverse cast, On My Block. I actually didn't like On My Block. The acting in that is awful, the series is a comedy but the humor just doesn't land right, the poor acting probably has something to do with it. So I say skip On My Block and watch Outer Banks. Outer Banks was such a surprise. It had no recognizable names headlining it and it premiered seemingly without much buzz, but it turned out to be actually a really good teen adventure series. The teen characters are older here and the actors are also much older but at least they can act. I think it is the chemistry between the characters which made this good and fun to watch.

 

Upload (2020 - )

After dying, a man's wealthy girlfriend had his consciousness uploaded into a virtual world. In his new existence, he befriends his handler (a person who still exists in the real world) who takes care of his needs in the virtual world and also starts to question the circumstances around his death. This sci-fi series is a lot of fun, sweet and funny. There's also a murder mystery element which keeps the suspense going with what or who is behind the main character's death.

 

Trying (2020 - )

After unsuccessfully trying for a baby on their own, the series follow a couple as they go through the adoption process. This is a sweet charming series that has an almost indie romantic comedy feel to it and the chemistry between the leads is great. I think, out of the five I've picked today, this is probably the least talked about, at least I haven't seen much buzz. It's actually on Apple TV, which is mostly populated by American productions, and this being British seems to be a little overlooked.
 

The Flight Attendant  (2020 - )

A flight attendant, an alcoholic, after a night of heavy drinking wakes up in a bed in a hotel in a foreign country beside a dead man. Unable to remember what happened and fearful of being held up in a foreign country, she goes on to her next flight and does her job like nothing has happened until they land in New York and the flight crew is brought in for questioning by the FBI. I had read the book this was adapted from. The book had been more of a drama thriller, but this TV series totally change the tone of it making it more of dark comedy thriller...and I think it still works. Kaley Cuoco plays the flight attendant in this and she was pretty good, her flight attendant is messy and has that ditsy blond thing going on which plays well into the whole dark comedy tone. While her situation was dire...there was still a little humor, unlike the book which was all rather dark. So yeah this adaptation turn out to be a fun watch, looking forward to the second season.

 

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