Spring TV Watchlist: 'The Idol' Shocks, Tom Holland Goes Prestige and Schwarzenegger Gets Candid

Plus Kaley Cuoco gets back into the thriller game, this time on Peacock Week of June 3 – 9 This seems like one of those weeks where there are a ton of buzzy TV shows debuting and it’ll be interesting to see which one takes up the most oxygen – will it be the controversial HBO series “The Idol” starring The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp? Or “The Crowded Room,” the prestige psychological drama starring Tom Holland? What about “Based on a True Story” the goofy comedic thriller with Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina? It could be any of them! And that’s without talking about the “Flamin’ Hot” movie or the Arnold Schwarzenegger doc or the shocking HBO crime story (“Burden of Proof”) or the returning champions “Cruel Summer,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Human Resources.” It’s another week stacked with the absolute best. On with the television! The Idol Sunday, June 4 at 9 p.m., HBO Source: HBO The most controversial TV show of the year finally airs. Created by “Euphoria” mastermind Sam Levinson, Reza Fahim and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and produced by indie powerhouse A24 (coming off of their very good year at the Oscars with “Everything Everywhere All At Once”), the perpetually delayed series has courted controversy in recent months. First there was the Rolling Stone expose that suggested that Levinson and Tesfaye had dramatically retooled the series after it was shut down last spring. Instead of what was originally the more empowering story of a pop starlet (Lily-Rose Depp) who falls under the sway of a powerful musical Svengali who turns out to be an actual cult leader (Tesfaye), they were said to have made it more blatantly misogynistic. Crew members were appalled. But Levinson and Tesfaye kept going. Then there was the debut of the series, last month, at Cannes, with reports of just how extreme (and distasteful) the show was, followed of course by loving documentation of the star-studded afterparty (DJ’d by French dance duo Justice). None of this has lessened interest in the series; if anything it’s dramatically amplified it. It will be nice to see the show, which also stars Suzanna Son, Troye Sivan, Jane Adams, Dan Levy, Eli Roth and one of the last performances from Anne Heche, for ourselves. At the very least, we know the soundtrack will be full of bangers. [[TRAILER](] Burden of Proof Wednesday, June 7 at 9 p.m., HBO Source: HBO This two-night documentary event (the first two parts air the night before) sounds really, really good and deeply disturbing. Here’s the official synopsis from HBO: “When 15-year-old Jennifer Pandos went missing in 1987, her parents told everyone she ran away. Decades later, her brother Stephen begins a relentless odyssey in search of the truth. His investigation into the case threatens to destroy his family as he becomes strongly convinced that his parents are both implicated in the crime. As time passes, more threads unravel and new evidence comes to light, Stephen starts to question everything he has come to believe.” Yeah … pretty intense right? Something tells us this will be the documentary everyone will be talking about. [[TRAILER](] Flamin’ Hot Friday, June 9, Disney+ and Hulu Source: Searchlight Pictures Eva Longoria makes her feature directorial debut in this, the supposedly true story of Richard Montañez, a janitor at Frito-Lay who says he invented the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto. That’s quite the claim and one that has been widely debated, even after the publication of Montañez’s memoir “A Boy, a Burrito and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive.” But Longoria’s movie seems to play things straight, with Jesse Garcia as Montañez and Tony Shalhoub as PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico, a man who is probably best remembered for his role in the Cola Wars of the 1980s. The movie (which will premiere on both Hulu and Disney+) premiered at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, where it received warm reviews, with particular praise leveled at Longoria’s direction. One thing is for sure – you’re going to need a lot of snacks to go along with “Flamin’ Hot.” [[TRAILER](] Arnold Wednesday, June 7, Netflix Source: Netflix This three-part documentary focuses on – who else? – Arnold Schwarzenegger as he goes from body building sensation to colossal movie star to governor of California. Each of the one-hour episodes follows a different phase of his career, from his early life in Austria pumping iron to his Hollywood domination (there are, of course, some chestnuts from frequent collaborator James Cameron) to his oversized political ambitions, which followed a health crisis and a dissatisfaction with his movie career. It’s all deeply fascinating and as a subject, Arnold is unsparingly candid about the occasional missteps in his life – it feels like the kind of thing that he could only have done this late in his life. He's a man reflecting on all that he’s conquered. And everywhere he fell short. Let us pray that there’s enough footage for an equally long documentary devoted exclusively to Planet Hollywood. [[TRAILER](] The Flash (1990 Series) PVOD (Vudu, Amazon, Apple, Google Play) Source: DC With a new version of “The Flash” headed to the big screen later this month and the long-running series recently concluding on The CW, why not throw it back to the original television incarnation of the scarlet speedster? Developed by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, the high-concept duo behind “The Rocketeer” and several charming low-budget favorites like “Trancers” (“Dry hair is for squids”) and “Zone Troopers,” this version of “The Flash” was clearly meant to ride the wave established by Tim Burton’s “Batman” the year before. Danny Elfman deploys another super memorable theme for the character, this time portrayed by the great John Wesley Shipp (who TV fans might remember as Dawson’s dad on “Dawson’s Creek”), and the entire thing is draped with the slighty-heightened-but-still-gritty aesthetic of Burton’s superhero classic. There are so many small pleasures of “The Flash,” from the incredible supporting cast that includes Richard Belzer and Mark Hamill (it was 1990) to the Flash costume, designed by “Rocketeer” creator Dave Stevens and fabricated by Stan Winston. This is just a joy. Watch it – fast! [[INTRO](] Source: Apple TV+ “Cruel Summer” Monday, June 5 at 9 p.m., Freeform “Cruel Summer” is finally back. And just in time (look at your thermostat – summer is here!) While the original series focused on a kidnapping in the early 1990s (and there was some exploration for a direct follow-up), the show has adopted the “anthology” format and the latest installment is set in turn-of-the-millennium Pacific Northwest. There seem to be similar plot mechanics – a duplicitous friendship, a young girl gone missing, an investigation years later – but with a brand-new cast and, crucially, lots of fresh twists. If you missed the first season, it’s worth watching. But with the new format, you can also just jump in with season 2. Ready for it! [[TRAILER](] “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” Wednesday, June 7 at 10 p.m., FXX Incredibly, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is returning for its 16th (!) season on FXX. That makes it the longest-running live-action sitcom in the history of television (it beat “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” which ran for 14 seasons). What can we expect from this season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia?” Probably exactly what we’ve gotten from the past 15 seasons – a ton of silly nonsense. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. [[TRAILER](] “Based on a True Story” Thursday, June 8, Peacock This looks like a ton of fun. A new comedic thriller from Craig Rosenberg and Jason Bateman, it stars Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina as a down-on-their-luck couple who decide to get into the true-crime podcast game with predictably anarchic results. The cast also features Tom Bateman (no relation), Liana Liberato and Natalia Dyer from “Stranger Things.” Will this continue the Peacock hot streak established by “Poker Face” and “Mrs. Davis?” We sure hope so! [[TRAILER](] “The Crowded Room” Friday, June 9, Apple TV+ Tom Holland joins the prestige limited series world with “The Crowded Room,” a based-on-a-true-story drama from “A Beautiful Mind” writer Akiva Goldsman. The show is based on an actual incident, when a man (Holland) was successfully acquitted of a murder conviction by blaming his dissociative identity disorder (what used to be known as “split personality”). You’re intrigued, aren’t you? Well consider that the cast also includes Amanda Seyfried, Emmy Rossum, Sasha Lane, Christopher Abbott and Jason Isaacs and that the first episode was directed by “Pieces of a Woman” filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó. [[TRAILER](] “Human Resources” Friday, June 9, Netflix The spin-off of Netflix animated series “Big Mouth” (this one created by Kelly Galuska, Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett) returns for a second season. If you skipped the first season, the show (according to the official synopsis) follows “Lovebugs, Hormone Monsters and a parade of other creatures juggle romance, workplace drama and their human clients' needs in this ‘Big Mouth’ spinoff.” There you have it. [[TRAILER](] 2034 Armacost Ave. | Los Angeles, CA 90025 [Unsubscribe](