The good, the ‘Bad’ and the ‘Monkey’:
Apple TV+ heads to Florida Keys for tropical mystery series
BY DANA SIMPSON
Flush with unique natural wonders, expansive beaches and endless activities to indulge in, Florida has always been a grand attraction for characters of all kinds. Now, the Sunshine State makes up the setting of Apple TV+’s newest series, “Bad Monkey.”
Releasing its first two episodes Wednesday, Aug. 14, on the Apple-owned streamer, “Bad Monkey” stars Vince Vaughn
when Warner Bros. first announced the project. Written, executive produced and co-created by “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking” producer Bill Lawrence and his Doozer Productions, the crime dramedy is set two contain 10 episodes, to be released weekly after the double-episode premiere on Aug. 14.
Following the series announcement and report that Vaughn would star in the leading role, news broke in December
buyer for his McMansion.” Monaghan, for her part, is cast as Bonnie Witt, Yancy’s love interest and the wife of a well-off Key West dermatologist. In the novel, Witt is portrayed as a woman of questionable morals who was forced to leave her job as an Oklahoma school teacher and change her name (from Plover Chase) following an illicit affair with one of her students.
Joe”), Ronald Peet (“Dicktown”), John Ortiz (“Silver Linings Playbook,” 2012), Scott Glenn (“The Silence of the Lambs,” 1991), Zach Braff (“Scrubs”) and, of course, Crystal the Monkey (“The
Horoscopes
The luckiest signs this week:
CAPRICORN, AQUARIUS AND PISCES
ARIES
If a relaxing holiday wasn’t in the cards this summer, you’ll consider going on a refreshing getaway to recharge your batteries. This will be extremely rejuvenating.
TAURUS
You’ll feel the need to please everyone. However, you’ll realize that this is impossible. Follow your heart and trust your intuition. An extra dose of self-confidence would be beneficial.
GEMINI
After a long vacation, returning to work may leave you feeling exhausted. Your partner and loved ones will require more attention. However, you must take time to rest to get through the week.
CANCER
You’ll be rewarded with success. This will clarify an unclear story. You’ll receive heartfelt appreciation that will reinforce your position of importance.
LEO
You’ll devote time to your family and enjoy the peace and quiet of your own home. Your relationship with your partner will be a priority.
You’ll demonstrate your creativity, even in simple activities such as cooking a meal.
VIRGO
You could be in the mood to buy a new car. You’ll spend a lot of time negotiating and listening to endless speeches and presentations. At work, you could discover that you have hidden sales talents.
LIBRA
You’ll have a strong urge to spoil yourself, get a new wardrobe or change your hairstyle. You must be social and hang out with your friends. At work, overtime will be on the agenda.
SCORPIO
You don’t always listen to advice from others, especially if it’s long-winded. Trust your instincts. They’ll guide you in the right direction if you take the time to listen carefully. You’ll have a guardian angel watching over you.
SAGITTARIUS
You may need to step back before a critical turning point in your life. You must think carefully about your passions and how to manage stress.
CAPRICORN
Your active social life could lead to overspending. Even though you’re generally thrifty, you could find it challenging to manage your budget and pay off your debts.
AQUARIUS
You’ll go to great lengths to impress strangers and family members. Your children will be a source of great pride. You’ll seize opportunities of abundance that come your way.
PISCES
At work, a training course will bring about opportunities for advancement, bringing you closer to a career in line with your values. You’ll redefine your ambitions with a newfound conviction.
New Streaming Movies & Shows
“Jackpot!” (Aug. 15)
Set in a very near future where a Grand Lottery has been founded in economically struggling California. The only caveat? If you want to legitimately claim the award, you must murder the winner before sunset. John Cena, Awkwafina and Simu Liu star.
“Solar Opposites” - Season 5 (Aug. 12)
This oddball animated comedy centers around a team of four aliens who are evenly split on whether earth is awful or awesome. Now that alien mission partners Terry (Thomas Middleditch) and Korvo (Dan Stevens) are married, the whole team — also including Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone), Jesse (Mary Mack) and the pupa — are focused on family values.
Word Search
Where all the top choices can be found in one place!
“Worst Ex Ever” - Season 1 (Aug. 14)
From the creators of the global phenomenon Worst Roommate Ever, this new format — built around the universal feeling of wondering how much you really know about your partner — brings you more shocking tales of betrayal, violence, and deceit. Composed of compelling testimonials, bodycam footage and animated reenactments, the series reveals the disturbing stories of monstrous past relationships.
“Star
Wars: Young Jedi Adventures” - Season 2 (Aug. 14)
Season 2 follows the younglings as they continue their training and embark on even bigger missions across the galaxy. Helping to lead the younglings on these missions is Master Zia’s new Padawan, Wes Vinik, and his astromech RO-M1. As they continue their training and grow in the ways of the Force, the young Jedi will travel to new planets with new and old friends and encounter adversaries like The Ganguls, who are growing in their pirate ranks.
BY JAY BOBBIN
Q: I heard that Sarah Drew is making a new series for Hallmark Channel. What is it, and when will it be on?
A: The “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Everwood” alum – who has made something of a cottage industry out of starring in cable films, for Lifetime as well as for Hallmark – will appear in a show based on the podcast “Mistletoe Murders,” in which she’ll play the own of a holiday-themed store who doubles as an amateur sleuth. She’s assisted in the cases she tackles by a police detective and his daughter, and she also harbors a secret that could dismantle everything for her if it’s discovered by others. It makes sense that “Mistletoe Murders” (which currently is in production in Toronto) is expected to debut during the coming holiday season, and while that will make Drew a major part of Hallmark’s seasonal plans, she was very much a Lifetime employee during that period last year. Though she’s normally seen on camera in the projects she makes, she stayed behind the scenes as the writer and producer of “A Cowboy Christmas Romance,” which starred Jana Kramer and got extra attention for being a bit more spicy than Lifetime’s traditional holiday fare.
shirts and pants
Surrealist Salvador
Schreiber of “The Perfect Couple” 11. Marine eagle 17. Questlove’s haircut 19. Printed 20. Michael of “Arrested Development” 21. Mounted on 25. Starfleet uniform wearing fans 26. The Old Sod 27. Goes bad 31. Paris art museum
Mark’s replacement 33. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Hank 34. Richie of “The Simple Life”
Hispaniola people
Throw out
FCC concerns: Abbr.
Interruption
Just 41. “Law & Order: SVU” co-star 44. “___ Sync Battle” 45. “The Streets of ___ Francisco”
Best PARIS MOVIES MOVIES
BY JAY BOBBIN
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939): Charles Laughton makes an outstanding Quasimodo in this hugely atmospheric version of the Victor Hugo novel, which has been filmed numerous times. With the fourth season of Netflix’s “Emily in Paris” starting Thursday, Aug. 15, it’s an appropriate time to revisit such movies.
“An American in Paris” (1951): Some of the most stunning dance sequences ever put on screen are included in this genre masterpiece, thanks to star Gene Kelly and director Vincente Minnelli.
“Funny Face” (1957): A fashion photographer’s (Fred Astaire) search for the ideal model eventually takes him and his choice, a shop clerk (Audrey Hepburn), to — you guessed it — Paris.
“Gigi” (1958): Life and love among several generations of the French gets a delightful portrayal in this Lerner and Loewe musical, which benefits greatly from the knowing presence of veteran talent Maurice Chevalier.
“The 400 Blows” (1959):
Director Francois Truffaut’s influential drama begins the saga of troubled youth Antoine, played in this and four subsequent films by Jean-Pierre Leaud.
“Can-Can” (1960): Cole Porter music sparks this tale of a French nightspot operator (Shirley MacLaine) who wants to enable a scandalous dance to keep being performed.
‘The Graduate’ still gets very high grades
BY JAY BOBBIN
Benjamin Braddock forever will be a little worried about his future.
And for good reason. If he’s not quite sure where he’s going at the start of director Mike Nichols’ 1967 classic “The Graduate” — which Turner Classic Movies shows Wednesday, Aug. 14, as part of a “Summer Under the Stars” day devoted to Anne Bancroft — he doesn’t have much cause to be any more certain in the picture’s famous climax, though it might appear on the surface that he’s charted his course. What happens in-between is the stuff of which iconic movies are made. Dustin Hoffman had been acting professionally for several years, largely on television, when Nichols made him an immediate star by casting him as very nervous college grad Benjamin (a part for which Robert Redford, Hoffman’s later “All the President’s Men” co-star, had tested).
After brilliantly setting up the privileged background from which Benjamin hails (the scuba suit in the swimming pool!), Nichols and screenwriters Buck Henry — who also has a great cameo as a hotel desk clerk — and Calder Willingham shift to the main story, the seduction of Benjamin by calculating family friend Mrs. Robinson (a sterling Bancroft, in a legendary role that Doris Day reportedly turned down).
Benjamin has his doubts about the secret affair, and those only are amplified when he reconnects with
unsuspecting Robinson daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross, whose contribution to the film tends to be underrated beside her fellow “Graduate” stars).
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel also are invaluable to “The Graduate,” Nichols having made the inspired choice to use their mood-enhancing music throughout the picture. The filmmaker also cast every other character perfectly, from William Daniels and Elizabeth Wilson as Benjamin’s social-standing-minded parents to Murray Hamilton as Mr. Robinson and Norman Fell as a landlord who simply doesn’t like tenant Benjamin. And as a graduation-party attendee, Walter Brooke always can be identified for one sincerely delivered word of advice: “Plastics.”
Despite the fact that it’s now close to 60 years old, “The Graduate” is one of those movies that never loses its freshness, thanks to its superbly original adaptation from a novel by Charles Webb. Though there never has been a sequel (mercifully, in the eyes of many), the tale factored into the 2005 release “Rumor Has It ... ,” in which Kevin Costner’s character is thought to be the inspiration for Benjamin.
Indeed, “The Graduate” continues to stand alone — and in an industry increasingly marked by reboots, spinoffs and remakes, that is something still to be celebrated.
“Gay Purr-ee” (1962): This animated feature (from the makers of the “Mr. Magoo” cartoons) gets charm from a voice cast that includes Judy Garland and Robert Goulet, along with wonderful interpretations of Parisian sites.
“How to Steal a Million” (1966): Reunited with his “Roman Holiday” star Audrey Hepburn, director William Wyler makes great use of the heart of Paris in this art-swindle comedy.
“French Postcards” (1979): American exchange students have personal adventures during their year studying in Paris in this engaging comedy.
“Frantic” (1988): Roman Polanski’s thriller examines the underbelly of Paris, as Harrison Ford plays an American visitor desperately seeking his missing wife.
“The Devil Wears Prada” (2006): Though the bulk of it is set in New York, this comedy makes fine use of Paris in a late section of the film that takes an imperious magazine editor and her assistant (Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway) there for a major fashion show.
Fatal fraternities: Brand-new docuseries exposes the dark side of Greek life
A new era of warfare: ‘SEAL Team’ returns for explosive final season
BY DANA SIMPSON
A world at war needs saving once again, and the only ones for the job are the brave members of the most elite unit of the Navy SEALs. The long-running military drama series “SEAL Team” concludes its run in a 10-episode final season, premiering exclusively on the Paramount+ streaming service Sunday, Aug. 11. The first two episodes drop on premiere day, with new episodes following weekly on Sundays.
The upcoming seventh season of “SEAL Team” sees Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz, “Bones”) lead Bravo team on a final mission to defend the United States against enemies abroad. These SEALs take on the most high-stakes missions at the drop of a hat.
In an official trailer for the new season, with blood literally on his hands, Jason ruminates on the violence he’s both endured and inflicted as a member of the highly trained unit and toasts “a new era of warfare.” He stands strong for his unit but must admit the voices questioning how he can keep going back into the fire aren’t wrong, especially as a widower with two children.
Also returning is Neil Brown Jr. (“Insecure”) as Chief Warrant Officer Ray Perry, whose looming retirement has him questioning whether leaving service behind could really be an option for him.
View from the Couch
“FURIOSA: A MAD MAX
SAGA”
Though the Mad Max character is only a supporting character here,, this prequel – directed by George Miller, who has played a major creative part in the other film in the franchise, which began 45 years ago – extends the series by centering on the kidnapped Furiosa (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), a young woman who travels across a dystopian Australian landscape while in the forced company of a biker gang that battles other factions for possession of basic survival needs. Chris Hemsworth plays her chief captor, and Tom Hardy also
Special Warfare Operator Sonny Quinn (A.J. Buckley, “Justified”) faces changing tactics and grief this season, while Lt. Lisa Davis (Toni Trucks, “Corporate”) directs the team in a new direction that they may not all be ready to embrace.
“Operations like this are the next era of warfare ... invisible tactics with global consequences,” Davis explains in the official trailer before emphasizing: “evolve or fall behind.”
There’s also talk of brotherhood throughout the trailer, with action shots of firefights, explosions and covert operations next to heartfelt moments with the families Bravo team leaves behind when duty calls.
Bravo team is called upon to step in and complete a complicated mission on behalf of its country. Uprooted from their family lives back home, SEAL team members drop everything to fight for peace in a foreign land. This time, part of the season was filmed on location in Colombia.
Season 6 cast addition Raffi Barsoumian (“DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”) is back as Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Omar Hamza, whose new responsibilities in the unit help him immerse himself in the work to escape the trauma of his past.
Two new members join the unit for the series’ final season. Beau Knapp (“Road House,” 2024) is Drew Franklin, a chief special warfare officer; and “Blue Bloods” actor Dylan Walsh puts aside his NYC mayoral duties to slip into character as Capt. Walch.
Returning in recurring roles are Tyler Grey (“Northbound”) as Trent Sawyer; Justin Melnick (“Justified: City Primeval”) as Brock Reynolds; Alona Tal (“Truth Be Told”) as Stella Baxter; and Parisa Fakhri (“What We Do In the Shadows”) as Naima Perry.
The cast and crew of “SEAL Team” started saying their goodbyes to Bravo team when it was officially announced by Paramount+ that the series would end with its seventh season back in November of last year.
Boreanaz, also an executive producer of the series, reflected on his time making the show in a statement: “For six seasons I have been fortunate and blessed to be a part of an outstanding cast and crew. Every day spent was a note of thanks to our men and women in the military and Special Ops.”
BY JAY BOBBIN
stars. Holding to the tradition of incorporating violence that’s often grueling, the film has ties to the preceding “Mad Max: Fury Road” by including some of the same actors, such as John Howard, Angus Sampson and Nathan Jones. *** (R: AS, P, V) (Also on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, Digital and On Demand)
“IF”
After making his mark as a filmmaker with the “A Quiet Place” thrillers, John Krasinski stays in the fantasy realm but broadens out to all ages with this fanciful tale of a youngster (played by Calley Fleming) who discovers that she can see the imaginary friends of other people. A neighbor (Ryan Reynolds) wants to find those creatures new homes, since the children who they befriended have outgrown them, and the girl agrees to help him. The picture has an extensive and impressive voice cast that includes Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr. (to whom the film is dedicated), Emily Blunt (Krasinski’s wife), George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Bill Hader, Blake Lively (Reynolds’s wife), Keegan-Michael Key, Amy Schumer, Maya Rudolph, Jon Stewart and Richard Jenkins. Krasinski also has both live-action and voiceover roles here. DVD extras: six “making-of” documentaries; outtakes; drawing
lesson. *** (PG: AS) (Also on Bluray, 4K Ultra HD and Digital)
“SUCCESSION: THE COMPLETE SERIES”
One of the best-reviewed and most-honored shows of recent years, creator and executive producer Jesse Armstrong’s HBO drama – which earned 19 Primetime Emmy Awards over its four seasons (including outstanding drama series for its last three rounds) – becomes available on Blu-ray in a full-series set. Brian Cox is pivotal to the ensemble cast as Logan Roy, the patriarch of a media empire who tries to determine the future of the family business … particularly its leadership, which is very much in question as his children deal with respective personal crises. The show became famous for its plot twists, some of which were of the type that had people talking about them for days afterward, and which made looking at social-media sites perilous for anyone who didn’t want to know the secrets yet. Prominent stars also include Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Alan Ruck, Nicholas Braun and Peter Friedman. **** (Not rated: AS, P)
(Also on DVD)
“THE BIKERIDERS”
A natural for fans of the series
“Sons of Anarchy” and “Mayans M.C.,” writer-director Jeff Nichols’s
BY CAROLINE COLLACUTT
Expanding the ever-popular Secrets Of franchise — and exposing the dark and dangerous underbelly of Greek Row — the bone-chilling “Houses of Horror: Secrets of College Greek Life” begins unraveling a treacherous tale Monday, Aug. 12, on A&E.
Throughout its six-episode season, “Houses of Horror” promises to examine some of the horrific truths behind the world of campus Greek life, offering real-life, first-person accounts of the extreme conditions — including hazing, sexual assault, drug use and systemic racism — that persist throughout many of these longstanding groups, known across America as a traditional part of the college experience.
In their description for the upcoming series, A&E shared: “From a pledge at the University of Missouri hazed into drinking excessive quantities of alcohol that left him close to death, and a junior at the University of Minnesota who fought back against the Greek system after she was brutally raped by a fraternity brother, to a shocking set of overdose deaths at San Diego State University, and the infamous Machine, steeped in racist traditions of the Old South, at the University of Alabama, the series offers a far-reaching exam-
mid-1960s-set drama focuses on a motorcycle club called The Vandals and one particular member (Austin Butler,, “Elvis”). As the group’s nature starts changing to something more violent, he debates his continuing involvement, particularly as he finds an influential new love interest (“Killing Eve” Primetime Emmy winner Jodie Comer) and ponders whether he wants to chart a new course for himself with her. Breaking away from his bikebound comrades may not be easy, though. Tom Hardy portrays the leader of The Vandals, and Michael Shannon (who typically appears in Nichols’s films, “Take Shelter” and “Mud” being other examples), Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead”), Boyd Holbrook and Mike Faist (“Challengers”) also appear in the film, which was inspired by Danny Lyon’s same-named book of photographs. DVD extras: three “making-of” documentaries; audio commentary by Nichols. *** (R: AS, P, V) (Also on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD and Digital)
“NCIS: THE TWENTY-FIRST SEASON”
With the long-running CBS and Paramount+ series soon to be joined on those outlets by the prequel “NCIS: Origins,” and also with “NCIS: Tony & Ziva” bringing two popular characters back in another Paramount+ spinoff, this
ination of how the seemingly fun and frivolous world of Greek life could hide a much darker underbelly.” The stories shared are shocking and their implications are harrowing. In a sneak peek for “Houses of Horror” later shared by the network, viewers are even introduced to 19-year-old Daniel Santulli, who was brutally hazed by his classmates at the University of Missouri when attempting to pledge for the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity as a freshman. Made to consume a lethal amount of alcohol, Santulli was then left unsupervised and unconscious, soon experiencing a cardiac arrest that led to lifelong brain damage. Daniel’s story, as explored through sitdown interviews with his parents, Tom and Mary Pat Santulli, heartbreaking as it is, is only one of many. Through exclusive, sit-down interviews with those involved in past offenses, including former fraternity and sorority members, family, law enforcement and experts, episodes unravel how these organizations — ones created to offer a space of community and acceptance for young adults — can, according to A&E, “have far-reaching consequenc es that can turn dangerous, and even deadly.”
most recent year of the parent show – a shorter one than usual, due to last year’s show-business strikes by writers and actors – includes one episode that stands out for the tribute it pays to a founding cast member. Co-written by Brian Dietzen, alias the show’s Dr. Jimmy Palmer, the tale recalls the late David McCallum and his Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard by letting the character help solve a case even after his death. Gary Cole, Sean Murray, Wilmer Valderrama, Katrina Law, Diona Reasonover and Rocky Carroll also are members of the regular cast. This set also is available in a collection that includes the preceding four seasons as well. *** (Not rated: AS, V)
Coming Home Soon
“CAN’T HARDLY WAIT” (4K ULTRA HD) (AUG. 20)
“KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF
