Think you're already oversubscribed to streaming TV services? Bend over and grab your HDMI cables, because November has just dropped two more: Disney+ and Apple TV+. Also, HBO Max, Peacock and Quibi are coming in 2020. But the Purge may happen first.
Disney+ costs $7 a month, while Apple TV+ goes for $5. Are they worth it? Here are five new original series that may or may not sway you to subscribe to yet another app.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)
Right below Twilight and Saw on the list of 2000s reboots no one asked for rests High School Musical, the 2006-08 series of Disney Channel movies (though I'm all in for a Twilight/Saw mashup). In mockumentary HSM:TM:TS, students meta-stage a production of the classic High School Musical. That sound in the distance is the universe imploding — catchy beat, no?
The Mandalorian (Disney+)
If you're among the nerd faction that's completely on-board with Disney owning all things Marvel, Star Wars and Fox Studios, I'm sure your benevolent corporate overlords will never screw you over. It's fine, just fine. In the meantime, here's The Mandalorian, about a bounty hunter somewhere in the Star Wars universe. Look, dust and droids! It's fine, just fine.
The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
Apple spent millions of dollars to lure beloved comedy stars Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell to streaming TV to headline... a preachy drama about media politics? Bring on the yucks! To be fair, The Morning Show works better than 80 percent of Aaron Sorkin's similar The Newsroom, mostly by treating women as, stay with me here, humans.
For All Mankind (Apple TV+)
What if Russia had reached the moon before the USA in the '60s? Would Joe Rogan still be taking bong hits with moon-landing conspiracy theorists on three-hour podcasts? Probably. For All Mankind presents a science-y, alternate reality of an arguably better world — considering Ronald D. Moore's previous work (Battlestar Galactica), things could have gone worse.
Dickinson (Apple TV+)
Hailee Steinfeld (Between Two Ferns: The Movie) stars as poet Emily Dickinson in a coming-of-age dramedy that pits 19th century societal constraints against modern Millennial 'tude. In other words, why the hell isn't this on the CW? As she does in every role, Steinfeld delivers winningly as Dickinson, and you can't argue with a series that casts Wiz Khalifa as Death. ♦
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