TV Watchlist: John Mulaney and Jerry Seinfeld Kick Off Netflix's Joke Fest

Plus David E. Kelley teams up with Jeff Daniels for "A Man in Full" and Elisabeth Moss is behind "The Veil" Week of April 27 – May 3 Another week full of heavy hitters on the small screen, with a new based-on-a-Tom-Wolfe-novel Netflix series starring Jeff Daniels (“A Man in Full”), Jerry Seinfeld’s feature-length riff on the creation of Pop-Tarts (“Unfrosted”) and a documentary about a bizarre Japanese reality show (“The Contestant”). Plus new series starring Elisabeth Moss (“The Veil”), Harvey Keitel (“The Tattooist of Auschwitz”) and John Mulaney (“John Mulaney: Everybody’s in LA”). There are also new movies starring Anne Hathaway (“The Idea of You”) and Isabela Merced (“Turtles All the Way Down”). Like we said: full! On with the television! A Man in Full Thursday, May 2, Netflix Source: Netflix The latest based-on-a-bestseller Netflix series, following closely on the heels of the streamer's whirligig sci-fi extravaganza “3 Body Problem,” is “A Man in Full,” which takes its inspiration from the critically lauded Tom Wolfe novel of the same name. (Incredibly, it was his first novel since the zeitgeist-capturing “The Bonfire of the Vanities” and made nearly as big a splash.) “A Man in Full” was developed and entirely written by David E. Kelley, who has recently developed books like “Big Little Lies,” “The Lincoln Lawyer” and “Nine Perfect Strangers” into blockbuster, star-studded event series. Jeff Daniels stars as Charlie Croker, a real estate mogul in Atlanta whose empire starts to crumble around him. (Based on the trailer, the story’s formerly very-‘90s setting has been updated to today.) Diane Lane stars as his ex-wife and Bill Camp and Tom Pelphrey play the sharkish lawyers circling around him. (William Jackson Harper, Aml Ameen, Lucy Liu and Sarah Jones also star.) Directorial duties for the six-episode series are split between “One Night in Miami...” filmmaker Regina King and longtime Aaron Sorkin collaborator (and Christine Lahti’s husband!) Thomas Schlamme. Can Wolfe’s sprawling, Dickensian narrative (one of the best-reviewed novels of the 1990s) be vacuum-sealed into a limited streaming series? And if it succeeds, could we see more Wolfe material headed to the small screen? Zounds! [[TRAILER](] Star Wars: The Bad Batch Wednesday, May 1, Disney+ Source: Lucasfilm “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” the spinoff of Dave Filoni’s beloved “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” followed the titular group of clone troopers with genetic mutations (all voiced, with some variations, by longtime voice actor Dee Bradley Baker). The mutations each give them unique personalities and allowed them to survive Order 66, which saw the clones following an underlying program that forced them to kill off the Jedi. (It’s a whole thing.) Throughout the nearly 50 episodes, stretched across three seasons beginning in 2021, we have gotten to know (and love) these rascally clones, along with Omega, a young female clone of Jango Fett. And it has helped color in some of the larger “Star Wars” mythos. But all good things come to an end and this episode (“The Cavalry Has Arrived”) will serve as the series finale. Knowing Filoni, he’s currently plotting a way to bring the characters back in live-action. But only time will tell on that one. [[TRAILER](] Unfrosted Friday, May 3, Netflix Source: Netflix There has been a recent, fascinating trend in filmmaking where corporate products, not individuals, have gotten their own biographies – think “Tetris,” “Blackberry,” “Flamin’ Hot” and “Air,” all of which came out last year. “Unfrosted” is not one of those movies. Ostensibly, it is meant to detail the creation of the Pop-Tart, as Kellogg’s and Post Cereal both raced to create a toaster pastry that would capture the hearts and minds of breakfast-eating Americans. Jerry Seinfeld, who also co-wrote, produced and directed “Unfrosted,” plays Bob Cabana, an employee of Kellogg’s determined to win the warm pastry equivalent of the space race. Melissa McCarthy is his co-worker and Jim Gaffigan is his boss. Everything is absurd and bizarre – Christian Slater shows up as a member of a milkman mafia; there is a surprisingly lengthy subplot about a sentient ravioli creature; Snap, Crackle and Pop, the Rice Krispies mascots, are here embittered corporate employees (played by Kyle Mooney, Mikey Day and Drew Tarver). The jokes are fast and furious and Seinfeld, as both a director and performer, knows when to get in and out of a scene. (It’s also beautifully shot by the legendary Bill Pope.) This is easily the funniest movie of the year – and one that you can watch with the whole family. Just be warned: you’ll be craving a Pop-Tart something fierce. And maybe a glass of milk too. [[TRAILER](] The Contestant Thursday, May 2, Hulu Source: Hulu This is the true story of a “Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing, prompts innumerable questions about our culture of oversharing” (according to the official synopsis). This was the fate of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, who attened an audition for a Japanese TV producer and found himself the unwitting contestant in a bizarre and deeply uncomfortable reality television phenomenon. (Don’t worry, he is still alive and relatively well adjusted. He just did a Reddit AMA.) Even the official release describes this as “one of the most WTF stories of the year.” Buckle up. This is going to be a bumpy ride. [[TRAILER](] Devs Hulu Source: Hulu “Civil War” is currently burning up the box office, so why not revisit writer/director Alex Garland’s lone television outing? In “Devs,” which co-stars “Civil War” cast members Cailee Spaeny, Karl Glusman, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman and Sonoya Mizuno, a programmer (Glusman) dies mysteriously after joining a top-secret devs team at a Google-type company called Amaya. This leads the programmer’s girlfriend (Mizuno) on a quest to find out what happened – and what the devs team is hiding inside their isolated bunker. Part speculative sci-fi, part workplace drama, part paranoid thriller, “Devs” is one of the best, most insidiously creepy things Garland has ever done. And if you missed it the first time around, get ready to become obsessed. [[WATCH](] Source: Hulu “The Veil” Tuesday, April 30, Hulu “The Veil,” according to the official synopsis, “is an international spy thriller that explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. In the shadows, mission controllers at the CIA and French DGSE must put differences aside and work together to avert potential disaster.” It stars Elisabeth Moss, Yumna Marwan, Dali Benssalah and Josh Charles. Do we need to go on? [[TRAILER](] “The Idea of You” Thursday, May 2, Prime Video The latest from co-writer/director Michael Showalter (“The Big Sick,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”) is a romantic comedy based on the novel of the same name by Robinne Lee. It follows a single mother (Anne Hathaway) who falls in love with the lead singer of a boy band called August Moon (Nicholas Galitzine). As far as set-ups for romantic comedies go, that sounds pretty good! Ella Rubin, Reid Scott, Annie Mumolo and Perry Mattfeld also star. [[TRAILER](] “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” Thursday, May 2, Peacock The official synopsis describes “The Tattoist of Auschwitz” as “an event series inspired by the real-life story of Jewish Holocaust survivors Lali and Gita Sokolov. Lali (Jonah Hauer-King) arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1942, and shortly after arrival, he was made one of the tätowierer (tattooists), charged to ink identification numbers onto fellow prisoners’ arms. One day, he meets Gita (Anna Próchniak) when tattooing her prisoner number on her arm. They experience love at first sight, and so begins a courageous, unforgettable, and human story. Under constant guard from a volatile Nazi SS officer Baretzki (Jonas Nay), Lali and Gita became determined to keep each other alive.” Harvey Keitel and Melanie Lynskey also star in this international production. You will cry. [[TRAILER](] “Turtles All the Way Down” Thursday, May 2, Max Based on the bestselling novel from “The Fault in Our Stars” author John Green, "Turtles All the Way Down" stars Isabela Merced, a 16-year-old who is struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder and is pulled in two directions – looking for a mysterious recluse billionaire and attempting to fully engage with her crush. Cree Cicchino, J. Smith-Cameron and Hannah Marks (who also directs) co-star. If you have any tears left after watching “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” this should take care of the rest. It’s the John Green way. [[TRAILER](] “John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA” Friday, May 3 at 7 p.m. PT, Netflix One of the cornerstones of the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival that is taking over Los Angeles for 12 straight days, featuring 500 comedians performing in venues everywhere, this series, which will play out in six live installments, has John Mulaney interviewing funny people who are in town. Is there a possibility he’ll be interviewing people who aren’t funny? Or funny people who are in town but not for Netflix is a Joke? Only one way to find out. [[TRAILER](] 2034 Armacost Ave. | Los Angeles, CA 90025 [Unsubscribe](