The next Streamapocalypse dawns with a Dark Crystal, a Carnival Row, and some great British bakers
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Friday, August 30 and Saturday, August 31. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
The fifth Streamapocalyspe includes journeys to three magical fantasy worlds: the planet Thra, the Burg, and The Great British Baking Show’s big white tent.
The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): Let’s not beat around the bush here: The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance is great.
Here’s Erik Adams on this remarkable return to Thra:
Age Of Resistance is the best type of YA fantasy fiction, engrossing and escapist and full of hidden depths, ideal for viewers weaned on Harry Potter and The Legend Of Zelda but not quite ready for George R.R. Martin. There is a complexity at play, particularly in the arc of Seladon (Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Helena Smee), Brea’s sister whose loyalties and worldview are tested as word of the Skeksis’ treachery spreads. There are mystical MacGuffins and blind storytelling alleys littered about, but they’re far outweighed by the intrepid thrust of the Gelfling uprising and every thought of “How did they pull that off?” For decades, bands of true believers have sung the song of Thra; now, thanks to Age Of Resistance, that melody carries with the strength, distance, and richness the Dark Crystal concept has always deserved.
Carnival Row (Amazon, Friday, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): Below, you’ll find a list of 13 names. Try to guess which are made up and which are from Carnival Row.
- Agreus Astrayon
- Portia Fyfe
- Piety Breakspear
- Imogen Spurnrose
- Vignette Stonemoss
- Constable Cuppins
- Magistrate Flute
- Runyan Millworthy
- Rycroft Philostrate
- Nigel Winetrout
- Tourmaline Larrou
- Ritter Longbane
- Pierce Guilfoyle
You’ll find the answer at the bottom of this post.
The Great British Baking Show (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m., 10th-season premiere): The chronology for The Great British Baking Show has always been a little muddled here in the U.S. Since Netflix acquired the show, we’ve gotten two “collections” and a set of master classes. But now we’re a whopping three days behind the Brits—the 10th series premiered across the pond on August 27.
Episodes will appear weekly, as will Kate Kulzick’s recaps.
Carole & Tuesday (Friday, Netflix, 3:01 a.m., complete first series): Look for a reaction piece on this winning series next week.
Regular coverage
Wild card
Styling Hollwood (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): The sleek images of Hollywood’s A-list players gliding down the red carpet come at the price of the literal blood, sweat, and tears of their hustling stylists. Jason Bolden is the vision behind some of Tinseltown’s most prolific Black talent—Taraji P. Henson, Ava DuVernay, and Yara Shahidi, to start—while his husband and business partner, Adair Curtis, serves as the go-to interior designers for Gabrielle Union, Sanaa Lathan and a host of others. Together, they have formed the joint venture JSN Studio and with the help of their small, but lively staff (“help” used in the loosest of cases, in some instances), Bolden and Curtis remain one of the most powerful couples behind the Hollywood veneer. Tune in to watch them navigate fashion, love, difficult employees, and the horrors of too-sheer frocks as two of the only queer Black men in their industries get a shot at the spotlight.
Styling Hollywood begins streaming August 30 on Netflix. [Shannon Miller]
As for that Carnival Row names list: They’re all real, of course.