TV Break: May 2022 - FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven Debuts on Hulu; AppleTV+ Wraps Up Pachinko; David Simon Returns to HBO; & Netflix Returns to Earth

Welcome to TV Break, where Pop Break’s Podcasts Editor Alex Marcus is joined by editor-in-chief Bill Bodkin, and TV Columnist Josh Sarnecky to talk about the happenings in television. Here’s the format of the show: The Best Thing I Saw on TV Last Month – Alex, Bill, and Josh talk about a show/episode/event they liked from the last month including HBO’s We Own This City; Netflix’s Russian Doll S2; Disney Plus’s Moon Knight; and AppleTV Plus’s Severance & Pachinko. News Break – Alex, Bill, and Josh discuss all the latest news around Netflix’s bad month, including their expected subscriber losses, their layoffs in editorial and animation, their ill-considered (in our opinion) plans to turn things around, and a recent piece from Vanity Fair reporting on their declining commitment to premium scripted content as the seek to broaden their appeal to a wider audience. Streaming Wars – Alex, Bill, and Josh pick a streamer they think “won the month” based on new shows airing/upcoming shows announced etc. This month, the guys AGAIN all voted unanimously, but this time it was for HBOMAX, as it’s role in the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery corporation takes shape; it debuts some stellar TV (We Own This City, Barry, The Staircase, The Flight Attendant, Hacks); and The Batman breaks records. New Series Spotlight – Alex, Bill, and Josh watched Dustin Lance Black’s tale of murder and corruption in a small Mormon town in Utah, Under the Banner of Heaven, starring Andrew Garfield, Daisy Edgar Jones, Wyatt Russell, Sam Worthington, and Gil Birmingham. Check out the first two episodes now streaming on Hulu.