TV Break: June 2023 - American Born Chinese Charms; WGA Strikes; & Succession, Barry, Yellowjackets, Ted Lasso, & The Flash End

Welcome to TV Break, where Pop Break’s Podcasts Editor
Alex Marcus is joined by editor-in-chief Bill Bodkin, and TV
Columnist Josh Sarnecky to talk about the happenings in
television.


Here’s the format of the show:


The Best Thing I Saw on TV Last Month – Alex,
Bill, and Josh talk about a show/episode/event they liked from
the last month including HBO’s Succession & Barry, Showtime’s
Yellowjackets, AppleTV Plus’s Ted Lasso, FreeVee’s Jury Duty,
CW’s The Flash, and Disney Plus’s The Mandalorian & Kiff.


News Break – Alex, Bill, and Josh discuss the
latest on the WGA’s strike and what it is they are
looking for in their negotiations.


Streaming Wars – Alex, Bill, and Josh pick a
streamer they think “won the month” based on new shows
airing/upcoming shows announced etc. Bill was impressed by Max’s
relatively painless launch, their buzzy series finales, and the
news Kim Cattrall would be returning to And Just Like That later
this month. Josh returns to talk up the star power of AppleTV
Plus’s recent new series including Silo, Platonic, High Desert,
The Crowded Room, and Hijack, while also noting Ted Lasso’s maybe
series finale. Finally, Alex gives it to Netflix again, this time
thanks to its highly rated films A Man Called Otto and Mother,
its buzzy new TV releases including FUBUR, I Think You Should
Leave, The Ultimatum: Queer Love, and Hannah Gadsby: Something
Special, and the fact that David Zaslav and not Netflix has
become the WGA strike’s greatest villain, against all odds.


New Series Spotlight – Alex, Bill, and Josh
review American Born Chinese, Disney Plus’s
adaptation of the 2006 Gene Luen Yang Graphic Novel of the same
name. The series was created by actor and writer Kelvin You, and
executive produced by Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’s
Destin Daniel Cretton, who also directs the premiere and finale
of the first season.


It stars Ben Wang as 10th Grader Jin Wang and Jimmy Liu as
Wei-Chen, the son of the legendary Monkey King who has rebelled
against his father by stealing his father’s staff and posing as a
human while he embarks on a mystical quest. Academy Award winner
Michelle Yeoh, Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan, and Daniel Wu
costar.