Welcome to my Monday newsletter. This week, I am looking at Disclaimer, the fourth season of Abbott Elementary and the end of the first season of Bad Monkey. Also I have some quick thoughts on English Teacher, Only Murders in the Building and American Sports Story!
Disclaimer is a new star-studded limited series on Apple TV+ and it comes from acclaimed filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron. In press for the show, Cuaron has committed the cardinal sin of calling it a "seven hour movie" which TV fans (including this one) hate to here. There's a reason TV is a different medium than movies. There needs to be an episodic nature to them even when they are serialized stories and there's a reason very few people want to watch a seven hour movie. I feel like when people like Cuaron (or others in the past including lots of Marvel people) say things like that, they truly feel like they are saying something that would be enticing to people but it has the exact opposite effect.
However, the good thing about an auteur filmmaker like Cuaron doing TV is you know you are going to get something beautifully shot and that is the case with Disclaimer. I have my concerns about the story but there's no denying that it is very well shot. The cast is top notch too, particularly Kevin Kline. He is captivating in every scene he's in and was easily the best part of the first two episodes. Sacha Baron Cohen is almost unrecognizable in this and Lesley Manville has a small role (so far) that is interesting. As for the lead performance, I'm going to withhold judgment on what I think of Cate Blanchett. Despite being the star, she's not given a ton to do in the first two episodes with so much setup (more on that below) and I do like Blanchett generally so we'll see.
