KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — Apple is set to launch its Apple TV+ streaming service on November 1 in over 100 countries, but will initially launch with just eight shows.
Eight shows doesn't seem like a lot and with just a 7-day trial to see if the service is worth a shot, TV+ might be a bit of a hard sell.
Press were given access to advance screeners and here are my impressions of the available shows as well as the service overall.
The promising
For All Mankind: The premise of this show is intriguing: it's a reimagining of the space race where this time, the space race does not end.
Instead it becomes part of America's evolving psyche, current and visible. How does a country change when it keeps its eye (and one foot) on the stars?
Ronald D. Moore created and wrote for the show, and deftly creates a realistic scenario with solid characters.
What Moore does well, even in his past sci-fi outings (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander) is create setpieces where the setting is never the star, no matter how fantastical ― battleships or space race, what you care most about are the characters.
Most interesting for me was the contrast between two characters, namely Sarah Jones' Tracy Stevens and Shantel Vansanten's Karen Baldwin.
Both play astronauts' wives but with one crucial difference ― Tracy wants to be an astronaut, not just be married to one.
While a couple of the plot devices seem a tiny bit contrived the show grows on you, albeit slowly.
If you're a fan of the 60s era old-school space movies, you'll appreciate For All Mankind especially with its solid writing and talented ensemble cast.
Dickinson: I did not enjoy this show, but I suspect its target demographic will. An imaginative and somewhat whimsical fantasy retelling of Emily Dickinson's life, Dickinson's main charm is its lead actress, Hailee Steinfeld.
Steinfeld has made a career out of starring in coming-of-age stories (Bumblebee, The Edge of Seventeen) so this role seems tailor made for her.
Societal restrictions, youthful dreams, star-crossed love: add all this together and what you get is the love child of a period piece and Beverly Hills 90210.
Jane Krakowski is a highlight of the show as Emily's rather vexed mother while Toby Huss as Mr Dickinson, the ambitious family patriarch, lends the occasional gravity the show needs.
Ella Hunt as Sue, the object of affection of both Emily and her brother, comes across as rather dull next to Steinfeld's almost over-effusive effervescence. Perhaps that is the show's intent because after all, Hailee is the real star here.
It also helps that the show's episodes clock just under half-an-hour so the occasional campiness doesn't get too overwhelming.
The not-bad
The Elephant Queen: This nature documentary is pleasant watching and follows the trials of the matriarch of an elephant herd in Africa.
With Chiwetel Ejiofor narrating, it's an easy enough watch and is beautifully shot. The vistas in the show are such that you would definitely want to watch it in high-definition.
What makes it compelling (once you get past the rather slow first half-hour) is the depiction of relatable emotions ― it's rather hard to forget the sight of a herd of elephants openly mourning a fallen member.
With very real stakes (famine and drought), Athena, the head matriarch is the decider of the fate of her herd.
It's fascinating to wonder how much of Athena's choices are instinctual or guided by some other means.
If you're the type who only puts on National Geographic as background while you try and sleep in a hotel room, then give this a miss.
The painful
See: I wanted to like the show, as it stars the easy-to-like Jason Momoa, but the script can be described in one word: awful.
The premise seemed intriguing. See imagines a world where humanity had lost the power of sight until one day a pair of twins are born who can see.
Somehow this sparks a war and a weird time jump of more than a decade happens between two episodes, which leaves the story feeling rather rushed.
How rushed? Imagine you were bingewatching a new show, fell asleep, and when you woke up the protagonist was now a grandfather to the new protagonist.
It's nice to look at but the dialogue is clunky, the acting swings between overwrought or barely even acting and the overall effect is a show that tries to be Game of Thrones but feels more like a game of musical chairs. Which means it's tedious and you just want it to be over already.
Suggestion for a drinking game: take a shot for each time a non-sighted person in See says dialogue that sounds more like exposition than actual human speech. You'll be drunk in no time.
The Morning Show: The best show I could use as a comparison to this Jennifer Aniston/Reese Witherspoon vehicle is Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom.
Like Newsroom, Morning Show seems to have been written by someone who has no actual idea how journalists actually work.
While Newsroom made me want to set fire to Sorkin's studio and all of his writing instruments, Morning Show just made me want to sleep.
Both are terrible depictions of actual journalists but at least Newsroom was entertaining, so long as you realise it's just the West Wing but with journalists instead of politicians.
Morning Show tries to be topical but tries a little too hard and you end up not rooting for either Aniston or Witherspoon's characters, who, like the show, take themselves far too seriously.
The entire premise, two broadcast journalists fighting for the same spot on a morning show, should have been more interesting than the result.
Instead of being a funny straight-up lampoon or a proper drama, it see-saws in between to terrible effect.
Maybe Apple could just buy the rights to The Newsroom because for some weird reason people still want to watch that.
Should you subscribe?
When the service launches, there will be a 7-day trial, and RM19.90 monthly thereafter. If you very recently bought a new Apple device, you might be entitled to a year's free subscription.
The kids' shows (which I did not get to access, boo) Helpsters, Snoopy in Space and Ghostwriter look promising as does the upcoming Little Voice with Sara Bareilles as well as Kumail Nanjiani's Little America.
Hopefully the content gets ramped as the current line-up feels a little thin and is not enough to get people to give up their Netflix subs.
The service does have potential but while the production quality is outstanding for the shows overall, what's missing is a killer show that will make subscribing a no-brainer.
What I can say is that Apple TV+ is at least worth the 7-day trial so give it a go and remember, you can always cancel whenever.
To watch all the trailers or get notifications for when the service launches, just head to the official Apple TV+ site here.
