Television

And Just Like That

• By AC Remler
• Photo Courtesy of HBO MAX

Get ready for high fashion, “sexcapades” and cosmo cocktails. And Just Like That is finally here! The much-anticipated reboot of iconic series Sex and the City debuts Dec. 9 on HBO Max. The limited 10-episode series, originally based on the book by Candace Bushnell, picks up the spicy storyline “as they navigate the journey from the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 30s to the even more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s.” 

And Just Like That stars Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie (who earned a coveted SJP acronym in Hollywood vernacular), Kristin Davis as Charlotte and Cynthia Nixon as Miranda. Notably missing from the Fab Four is Kim Cattrall’s Samantha–now a PR Powerhouse in London–but thankfully not killed off despite much controversy.

Sadly, another series regular who will be missed is Willie Garson who passed away at age 57 due to a battle with pancreatic cancer. Garson starred as Carrie’s BFF Stanford Blatch in 27 episodes and both movies and was spotted filming the series this summer. It remains to be seen how the script handles his character.

Also returning to their roles are Mr. Big (Chris Noth), Steve Brady (David Eigenberg), Harry Goldenblatt (Evan Handler) and fan-fave Aidan Shaw (John Corbett). And, rumor has it actor Jon Tenney will get a turn as Carrie’s love interest. Oh, my. Another Cosmo, please!

Streaming December 10 on HBO Max.

Being the Ricardos

• By Debbie Emery
• Photo Courtesy of Amazon Prime

Even if like me, you didn’t grow up watching I Love Lucy, you’re certainly still familiar with the infectious humor and endless talent of Lucille Ball. The five-time Emmy winner is brought back to life by Nicole Kidman in Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos, a biographical drama that looks at the relationship of Ball and her actor husband Desi Arnaz (played by Javier Bardem). 

Ball and Arnaz’s 20-year marriage was famed for its turbulence, however Being the Ricardos focuses on one production week of I Love Lucy (from Monday table read through Friday audience taping) when the couple faced a series of personal and professional crises that threatened their show, their careers and their relationship.

Fellow Australian actress Cate Blanchett was originally cast as Ball, but when she dropped out of the project, Oscar-winner Kidman took over the reins — sparking outrage by some diehard fans who didn’t think she looked enough like the iconic comedienne. “I thought Nicole looked as much like Lucille Ball as Leo DiCaprio looks like Howard Hughes,” director Sorkin said in defense of his star, according to Gold Derby. “Lucille Ball doesn’t look like Lucille Ball. It’s the way that Charlie Chaplin doesn’t look like Charlie Chaplin.”

“Being the Ricardos” opens in theaters on December 10 and on Amazon Prime Video on December 21.

RAGDOLL

• By RICH ANDREW
• Photo Courtesy of AMC+

Creator Freddy Seyborn (Bounty Hunters) has crafted the perfect visuals sure to transform Daniel Cole’s novel Ragdoll into a breakout hit. This limited series follows a group of detectives as they happen upon a patchwork corpse that has been gruesomely stitched together from six separate murder victims. As their investigation stalls with no evidence and no witnesses, they decide to reinstate Detective Sergeant Nathan Rose, who’s been known to bend the rules and get his hands dirty. When Rose starts digging, he receives a note from the killer at large with the names of his next six victims — listing Nathan Rose as his final target. The other detectives scramble to determine how these seeming strangers might be connected, but Rose suspects that a dark secret from his past has made these murders a personal vendetta, and now he knows whom to look for. What unfolds is a riveting game of predator and prey with clever twists that test the minds and crumbling emotional psyches of these detectives as they lose control of their spiraling investigation. With an outstanding cast featuring Lucy Hale (Katy Keene), Henry Lloyd-Hughes (The Irregulars), Thalissa Teixeira (Anne Boleyn), Ali Cook (Twist), Douggie McMeekin (The Beast Must Die), Perry Jaques (The Alienist), Tim McDonnell (Glow & Darkness), Michael Smiley (Temple), and Eric Raymond Lim (Cosplay), Ragdoll delivers on the sinister.

“Ragdoll” is now streaming on AMC+.

The Tender Bar

• By Debbie Emery
• Photo Courtesy of Amazon Prime

Based on the bestselling memoir by J.R. Moehringer recounting his life growing up in his uncle’s Long Island pub, The Tender Bar follows a young boy searching for a substitute father figure after his own deadbeat dad vanished soon after he was born.

Tye Sheridan, Daniel Ranieri and Ron Livingston all portray Moehringer at various stages of his life (beginning in 1973 and spanning 15 years) as he navigates the working-class neighborhood Manhasset, NY. No stranger to bars himself, Ben Affleck plays J.R.’s mentor Uncle Charlie, in what was described The Hollywood Reporter as “one of his most eye-opening performances” to date. THR also credits director George Clooney for creating the “warmest movie he’s made,” in sharp contrast to the coldness of his previous film, The Midnight Sky. Lily Rabe and Christopher Lloyd also star as J.R.’s mom and grandfather, respectively. 

When J.R. and his financially-strapped mom are forced to move back to her childhood home, he relishes in hanging out with the locals at the Dickens, the bar where his uncle works. There, he learns important life lessons — including “the male sciences” — and first catches the writing bug that will one day turn him into a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. 

“The Tender Bar” is released theatrically on December 17 and will then stream on Amazon Prime from January 7.