TV Watchlist: 'Asteroid City' Lands on Peacock While a New Harlan Coben Mystery Hits Prime Video

Plus the final season premiere of "Billions" and a wild HBO docuseries about telemarketers Week of August 12 - 18 What’s hotter than the super warm temperatures outside? This week’s array of television options, of course! (But you probably already knew that.) Among the offerings is a new show based on a Harlan Coben novel (“Harlan Coben’s Shelter”), a documentary about telemarketers and the return of “Billions,” “Solar Opposites” (with a new voice actor in the lead!) and “90 Day Fiancé” (this time it’s at a resort!). Add in a documentary about Elvis’ big comeback, a new animated feature from Netflix (“The Monkey King”) and the streaming debut of Wes Anderson’s new (and very good) movie “Asteroid City,” and now we’re really cooking with fire. On with the television! Harlan Coben’s Shelter Friday, August 18, Prime Video Source: Prime Video Harlan Coben is one of America’s best – and most popular – mystery novelists. And “Shelter” is the latest adaptation of his work, based on a 2011 young adult novel that followed Mickey Bolitar (played in the series by Jaden Michael), the teenage nephew of one of his regular characters Myron Bolitar (who first appeared in 1995’s “Deal Breaker”). “Shelter” follows Mickey who, following the unexpected death of his father, moves to Kasselton, New Jersey. Soon enough Mickey gets sucked into a mystery involving the disappearance of a classmate (Samantha Bugliaro) and uncovers the dark secrets hiding underneath the otherwise idyllic town. Coben adapted the novel with his daughter Charlotte and together they wrote several episodes of the season, including the finale (streaming on September 22). But if this season is a hit, you can expect more. There were two more Mickey Bolitar novels just waiting to be adapted. We can practically envision the sticker on the paperback version. [[TRAILER](] History’s Greatest Mysteries Monday, August 14 at 9 p.m., History Source: History The fourth season of a show you almost exclusively have watched on a hotel television while getting ready for dinner, “History’s Greatest Mysteries” this week dives into the Gardner Museum robbery. The robbery, which took place in Boston in 1990 (and has already become the subject of a great Netflix documentary called “This Is A Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist”), involved the theft of thirteen major works, including a Vermeer, three Rembrandts (including a self-portrait), five Degas pieces and one by Manet. Nobody was ever arrested, the artwork has never been recovered and it remains unsolved. Can Laurence Fishburne get to the bottom of it? Maybe. But you might miss dinner. [[TRAILER](] Asteroid City Peacock Source: Focus Features Peacock snuck this onto the line-up after we published last week’s newsletter, so we’re celebrating it now, especially since Wes Anderson’s latest bauble is one of his oddest and most emotionally rich yet. “Asteroid City” is set in the titular town in 1955, a fictional craggy outcropping of the American southwest, where the Junior Stargazers convene to discuss the mysteries of space with adult scientists. But when an actual UFO lands during the middle of their convention, the town gets locked down. (Yes, this is also Wes’ quarantine movie.) While trapped in the quaint town, full of rounded midcentury curves, truths are revealed and simmering attractions boil to the surface. The cast is, as expected, unstoppable, with Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson leading a troupe that also includes Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Adrien Brody, Maya Hawke, Margot Robbie, Steve Carell, Jeff Goldblum and Matt Dillon (among others). This might grow into one of Anderson’s best as the years (and several repeated viewings) go on; as for now, it's a gorgeously rendered, extremely satisfying romp. [[TRAILER](] Telemarketers Sunday, August 13 at 10 p.m., HBO Source: HBO This looks awesome. This three-part documentary series, directed by Adam Bhala Lough and Sam Lipman-Stern and executive produced by Benny and Josh Safdie and Danny McBride, David Gordon Green and Jody Hill, “chronicles the 20-year journey of two unlikely employees who stumble upon the murky truth behind a seedy New Jersey call center. With raw eyewitness footage and a comedic cast of characters, this documentary takes you from an anarchic boiler room filled with booze, drugs, and debauchery to the halls of the United States Senate as a billion-dollar telemarketing scam unravels” (according to the official synopsis). How great does that sound? [[TRAILER](] Wellington Paranormal MAX Source: MAX While “What We Do in the Shadows” is killing it on FX and Hulu (pun intended), why not watch the other series that was based on the original 2014 film? “Wellington Paranormal” follows the clueless Wellington, New Zealand cops who are investigating unusual happenings in their small town. Instead of the vampire-focus of the “What We Do in the Shadows” movie (and television series), “Wellington Paranormal” engages with all sorts of strange phenomena – zombies, ghosts, robots, time loops. The only constant is that their cases are constantly delightful and very, very funny. Dryer and more New Zealand-y than “What We Do in the Shadows” but just as fun. Give it a whirl. It’s a hoot. [[WATCH](] Source: Paramount+ “Billions” Sunday, August 13 at 8 p.m., Showtime Ready to say goodbye to “Billions?” Sunday begins the seventh – and final - season of the Showtime drama. But while this might be the last of the mainline “Billions” episodes (with the final episode airing on October 29), Showtime has already announced they are developing four (!) “Billions” spin-off series. So fret not. Paul Giamatti will always be employed. [[TRAILER](] “Solar Opposites” Monday, August 14, Hulu The fourth season of Hulu’s popular sci-fi comedy, its first full season since last summer, sees Dan Stevens replacing co-creator Justin Roiland as the voice of one of the main characters (Roiland was let go after assault allegations). Stevens will definitely bring a different energy to the show, which so far has been an enjoyable-enough sitcom about a bunch of aliens meant to overtake Earth, who get involved in the sillier aspects of the planet. It’s like an edgier “Alf.” [[TRAILER](] “90 Day: The Last Resort” Monday, August 14 at 9 p.m., TLC This might be the absolute peak of the “90 Day Fiancé” trash heap, involving a bunch of couples from the show and its various spin-offs (including Big Ed and Liz, Jovi and Yara, Angela and Michael and Kalani and Asuelu) and forces them to work their stuff out while vacationing in a tropical paradise. It has everything you could possibly want in one of these shows and so much more. [[TRAILER](] “Reinventing Elvis: The '68 Comeback” Tuesday, August 15, Paramount+ Remember that part of “Elvis” when Colonel Parker (Tom Hanks) wants Elvis (Austin Butler) to do a Christmas special but he ends up staging an iconic comeback special? Well this new documentary is all about that famous incident. Directed by John Scheinfeld, this documentary combines newly filmed talking head interviews with archival footage for an era-specific snapshot of where Elvis was at the time – and how the comeback special changed his life. [[TRAILER](] “The Monkey King” Friday, August 18, Netflix “The Monkey King” has arrived. In the latest Netflix animated feature Jimmy O. Yang voices the titular character, a cocky monkey warrior who takes on demons both real and internal in a vaguely feudal China. (The screenplay is based on the 16th century novel “Journey to the West.”) The movie is actually a ton of fun, with a winning voice cast that includes Bowen Yang, Stephanie Hsu, BD Wong and Jo Koy. And it’s worth mentioning the film was directed by Anthony Stacchi, who directed “Open Season” and LAIKA’s “The Boxtrolls” and more recently contributed to Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio.” We love animation royalty don’t we folks? 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