Catch Up: Top TV to watch this July and August
Claire Sawers has the perfect solution to the heat by insisting we stay safe indoors with scorching TV viewing such as the return of a comedy icon, two strong women on the run, and a noir detective with quite the USP
Two years after the final episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm aired, fans can rejoice as Larry David makes a triumphant return to TV. He may not be appearing as a fictionalised version of himself this time, but thankfully he still manages to be 100% pure Larry David in satirising figures from American history via quality sketch show Life, Larry And The Pursuit Of Unhappiness (HBO Max). Ahead of airing, this was guarded by HBO as though it was a matter of national security, with reviewers sworn to secrecy on plots and jokes. But all the Curb tropes are there: profanity, the long-suffering, vinegary wives, and effortlessly offensive gaffes, bolstered by cameos from Barack Obama, Jerry Seinfeld, Kathryn Hahn, Rita Wilson and plenty of Curb cast members. It’s very easy to enjoy David here in many luscious wigs, unwilling combat scenarios and irritating pickles.
In Apple TV’s Lucky, we find Anya Taylor-Joy playing a con artist on the lam, being chased by mob leader Priscilla (Annette Bening) and the FBI. Based on Marissa Stapley’s New York Times-bestselling crime thriller of the same name, Reese Witherspoon enjoyed it so much she brought her production company onboard for this TV adaptation. A female-centred cat and mouse chase, the streetwise and resilient Lucky Armstrong must hide from authorities trying to pin her down after a heist goes wrong. The opening episodes are action driven, with a few too many breathless car chases and stunt sequences giving way to meatier character exploration later. Lucky learned expert grifts thanks to her scammer father John, so we watch her morph between many aliases for survival, rather like The Day Of The Jackal if he found himself in Vegas casinos, luxury California homes and, occasionally, silk dresses and car boots. Bening is a highlight as the ruthless crime matriarch who is actually under the thumb of an even nastier man.
Also on the lam is Hannah Waddingham, playing a 50-year-old assassin who drags her unsuspecting best friend out of their dull book group to hit the road in Ride Or Die (Prime Video). Waddingham is fabulous as the deadly, seductive fembot fatale with a high body count in every sense. It seriously rattles her cage to learn she’s been marked as a ‘WOACA’ (woman of a certain age) by her bosses, but thankfully she has a wise, loyal, belly laughing sidekick Debbie (played by Octavia Spencer) in tow. This sits somewhere between the comedy, spy thriller and action genres, with Waddingham sprinting in stilettos or skiing with sniper guns. Think Russ Meyer meets Mr & Mrs Smith action humour, and add in absurd laughs from mid-life moments.
Returning to our screens, along with his vintage convertible 1960s baby blue Chevrolet Corvette, is private investigator John Sugar played by Colin Farrell. In Sugar (Apple TV), the titular PI is a film noir obsessive who we can also now say, without fear of spoilers, also happens to be an extra-terrestrial. If that premise sounds too strange to work, the sci-fi detective hybrid remains weirdly effective in season two, aligning with tropes of the misunderstood outsider such as Philip Marlowe. This time Sugar’s work takes him to Koreatown in Los Angeles and the search for a missing brother.
Sawers also saw…
The Bear on Disney+: ‘Is chef Sydney steering a sinking ship? Panicky, delicious chaos returns for a fifth and final course’; Dolly Parton: America Reunited on Now: ‘Smart documentary looking at the beloved singer’s superpower to unite conservatives and progressives’; OnlyFans: Inside The Machine on BBC iPlayer: ‘Insightful doc on how shady, abusive pimps operate on the camming platform’.