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Matt Katz: This is All Of It. I'm Matt Katz, filling in for Alison Stewart. The temperature is in the high 50s today, and maybe mid-50s. It's quite warm, and it's looking like spring is on its way. With a new season on the calendar, that means a new season of TV. There's so much TV out there. Joining us for a spring TV review, preview, to make sense of all the programming that's available, is Vulture TV critic, Kathryn VanArendonk.

Kathryn, hi. Welcome to All Of It. Welcome back to All Of It, I should say.

Kathryn VanArendonk: Hi. Thanks so much for having me.

Matt Katz: Listeners, what TV are you looking forward to this season? What have you watched recently that you loved? Call in to shout it out. Talk with Kathryn about what you're watching. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Or you can reach out to us on social media, @AllOfItWNYC.

Kathryn, as I was prepping for this, there's so much to watch. It is overwhelming. I want to talk about some of the big name stuff that's out there, and you can give us a sense of how to prioritize our nightly viewing here. Let's start with a show that premiered, I think last night. It's been the talk of our producers here at All Of It, Shōgun. Follows an Englishman ship wrecked in feudal Japan, takes place in 1600. It's based on a book from several years ago by writer James Clavell. Can you tell us about the premise, and what the show feels like, and whether we should be tuning in?

Kathryn VanArendonk: Absolutely, yes. It is based on a book by James Clavell. It is also one of the most famous TV miniseries from this big miniseries boom in the '70s and '80s. For anyone who watched that original miniseries, you might be thinking, "How is that different," in part because you might be wanting it to be different, because the original Shōgun, although it is about feudal Japan, it comes at it with a very Western-centric point of view. The main character is this shipwrecked English sailor who has managed to get to Japan, the first English sailor ever to do so. Then he has to surf the political fortunes of a lot of Japanese politics that he does not understand.

The major appeal, and the approach and promise of a new Shōgun is to take that same story and to still include that, there is still that backbone of the English sailor. He's played by Cosmo Jarvis, who's very charming, and bumbling, and doesn't exactly know what he's doing. A lot of the rest of the story comes at it with a more Japanese-centric approach. Those characters have a lot more storyline. It is much more from their point of view. What you get is less a fish-out-of-water story and more multiple POV political intrigue kind of drama. It's very violent, which is absolutely part of the genre of this kind of story, but it is also about all of these who is going to rise to power, who is going to betray who, all of these different relationships between families that will remind people of something more like Game of Thrones.

Matt Katz: Huh. Or Succession, maybe.

Kathryn VanArendonk: Or Succession, yes, although there are fewer beheadings in Succession.

Matt Katz: Yes, that's true. At least not literally.

Kathryn VanArendonk: Yes.

Matt Katz: Great. Have you watched the whole series?

Kathryn VanArendonk: I have. I have watched it. I enjoyed it very much. I will say for people who are squeamish about violence, particularly when the violence is very stylized and that bothers you, there're going to be scenes where you might want to cover your eyes a little bit. It is just a beautiful, beautiful production, and a lot of the performances are stunning, the costumes, it is a very lush, immersive experience.

Matt Katz: Cool. All right. I don't know if the next show I was going to ask you about is any lighter in terms of the content, 3 Body Problem, from Netflix. Comes out March 21st. It's an adaptation of the Chinese science fiction novel of the same name. What's this story about? I know the Game of Thrones creators are involved in this, too. What's the story about? What's the violence level there?

Kathryn VanArendonk: It is much less violent. It is a different kind of adaptation challenge. Shōgun is very Games of Thronesy. Ironically, the one made by the Game of Thrones guys is much less Game of Thronesy. It is a lot of big philosophical ideas in this original novel, and there's a real challenge in how you bring something that's very theoretical and often pretty abstract into a lived, embodied script.

I have to say, I was very dubious about how you would actually do this, because the novel is very slow. It is immersive, but in a way that is about these really big ideas and less about character. I do think that the Netflix adaptation has thought through a lot of those adaptation problems in ways that are pretty smart. The story for people who would want a sense is about a mysterious signal that is received by a Chinese woman that is probably from extraterrestrials, although she doesn't entirely understand who they are or what they want. Then as it unfurls over a long, long period of time, this encounter between Earth and this alien species becomes very complicated and challenging, and is played out through a video game space, largely.

Matt Katz: Oh, wow.

Kathryn VanArendonk: A lot of it gets to take advantage of the fact that television has such incredible VFX technology.

Matt Katz: There was a different version released on Peacock. Is that right? 3 Body Problem is a Netflix show, and it was adopted by a Chinese media company for a series that was released last year, which Peacock just added to its platform. Is there another adaptation there?

Kathryn VanArendonk: Yes. The Chinese version, which you can go watch right now, is a much closer adaptation of the book. It follows the beats of the book much more carefully, but it also because the book is written in the-- it reminds me a lot of the problem of Foundation, which is a pretty successful Apple show, and is also an adaptation of an essentially unfilmable science fiction work, that are about these vast spans of time.

The Chinese adaptation approaches the problem of how you deal with this big theory, by turning it into a more soapy structure. The American one is a little bit closer to the ideas, the theoretical sense of the novel, but it does that by creating a lot more characters who can embody different viewpoints.

Matt Katz: Got it. Let's go to the phone lines. We have some questions and recommendations, I think. Betsy, in Manhattan. Hi, Betsy. Thanks for calling in.

Betsy: Hi. I just want to let you guys know that I am watching Masters of the Air, on Apple. It's fantastic. If you like Band of Brothers, it's the next part of the World War II epic miniseries that they've done. It's so good. It's very Keoghan, it's Austin Butler. Fantastic.

Matt Katz: Great.

Betsy: Engaging, interesting, spectacular to watch. It's gory. It's emotional. It's everything. Love it. Love it, love it.

Matt Katz: Thank you very much, Betsy. Great. Have you seen that, Kathryn, Masters of the Air?

Kathryn VanArendonk: I have seen Masters of the Air. It feels, and I promise you that I mean this in the most complimentary and also gender-inclusive way, like peak dad television. It's like dudes in airplanes, and they are just doing the best that they possibly can to be as competent as they possibly can, in very strenuous circumstances.

Matt Katz: Well, I think that just moved that show to the top of my queue, then. That seems right up my alley. We have a question via text from the West Village. "I mostly watch Prestige TV, but feel like I have not gotten a fix in months. I couldn't get into the new True Detective. It was way too dark for me. Any recommendations for something light, but high quality?"

Kathryn VanArendonk: Light, but high quality? Well, Shōgun is very high quality, but light, it is not. If you are looking for something that is a little bit less big global disaster than Masters of the Air, but I think still in that prestige space, Apple is really owning that whole vibe right now. March has a couple of different things that are coming out. One of them is Manhunt. The first episode premieres the same night as the Masters of the Air finale. They are trying to keep America's dads on Apple TV. Manhunt is a historical drama. It is about the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination, and one of the earliest American true crime stories, the search for John Wilkes Booth, after that assassination. It stars Tobias Menzies, who plays Edwin Stanton, who was the Secretary of War, and then who really became the point person for how to capture and then bring John Wilkes Booth to justice.

It actually stars Anthony Boyle, who was also in Masters of the Air. Congrats to Anthony Boyle on your very good spring. I had a great time with Manhunt. I love a show where there's a lot of guys in mutton chops. There are so many mutton chops on Manhunt. It has the true crime rhythms to it but without that exploitive sense of a lot of the true crime documentaries that you'd get. That's a big plus to Manhunt for me.

Matt Katz: Let's listen to a trailer real quick for Manhunt.

Edwin Stanton: What happened?

Character 1: President's been shot. Witnesses are saying it was John Wilkes Booth.

Edwin Stanton: Wait, the actor?

John Wilkes Booth: Do you know who I am? I'm a symbol.

Edwin Stanton: How does a well-known actor commit murder in front of an audience of 1,500 people and escape?

Mary Todd Lincoln: Find the man that killed my husband.

Edwin Stanton: Gentleman, I am tasking you with the capture of John Wilkes Booth.

[MUSIC - Laura Marling: Devil's Spoke]

Singer: All of this can be broken

Hold your devil by his spoke

And spin him to the ground.

Matt Katz: Kathryn, is it historically accurate? Do we know? Close enough?

Kathryn VanArendonk: It's close enough. It is based on a well-researched book by James Swanson called Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. Tobias Menzies, he's an excellent British actor. As to whether his American accent is fully accurate, we're all doing the best we can out here. I think it really will fulfill that need to have that history buff thing going on for people who are picky.

Matt Katz: I want to ask you about one more show, change directions a little bit. Girls5eva.

Kathryn VanArendonk: Yes.

Matt Katz: [chuckles] Why did you say, "Yes."? Tell me about this show.

Kathryn VanArendonk: I have been waiting for Girls5eva's moment. I thought it would come when this show first premiered years ago. It did not happen. Maybe that was because it was on Peacock, and nobody watches anything on Peacock, is what I generally have been forced to learn. However, after being canceled on Peacock after two seasons, Girls5eva was revived, and it will now become a Netflix show. It comes out for a third season this March. I am very much hoping that finally the broad cultural uptake for this show is about to come.

It is a show for people who like 30 Rock. There are so many people who loved 30 Rock and have been re-watching it endlessly on streamers. The premise of Girls5eva is, it is about a girl group from the early 2000s who crashed and burned in that era and who now, much older women, are trying to bring the group back. It stars Sara Bareilles and Renée Elise Goldsberry. It's an incredible cast. A lot of it is written by Tina Fey, and so it has that exact same super snappy, super referential, very fast, very sly sense of humor, very silly gags. Paula Pell is so great in it. I am ready for Girls5eva to just take over.

Matt Katz: Can I watch that with my 12-year-old daughter, do you think?

Kathryn VanArendonk: Yes, I think that you can. There are some jokes that you will have to explain. The opening song is one of their hit songs from when they were first a group. The lyrics are like, "Going to be famous five eva because forever is too short," and it is my almost 10-year-old daughter's favorite thing.

Matt Katz: [chuckles] Excellent. Kathryn, we got about a minute left. Do you want to just tick off a couple of other recommendations off the top of your head for the spring season?

Kathryn VanArendonk: Sure, absolutely. For people who really liked Our Flag Means Death, there's a show called The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin that is also on Apple that you should check out. Then, the thing that I really was not expecting to love, but actually surprisingly do, is a spin-off of a spin-off called Elsbeth. It's a spin-off of The Good Wife and The Good Fight. It is a kind of Columbo-style procedural show, but it is full of all of the sort of specific quirkiness and flavor of those earlier shows. It moves fast. It's set in New York. Wendell Pierce is in it. Carrie Preston is fantastic. It's on CBS, so maybe network TV is finally going to come back.

Matt Katz: Amazing. Kathryn VanArendonk, thank you so much. Kathryn is the Vulture TV critic, and she often joins us here on All Of It to tell us what we should be watching. Kathryn, thanks so much for coming on the show.

Kathryn VanArendonk: Always a pleasure.

 

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