I signed up for Apple TV a while ago to watch Slow Horses, based upon a series of books by Mick Herron that I had thoroughly enjoyed.* I didn’t really relish another monthly subscription so my plan was to watch this one inside the free trial period and then cancel. The result can best be described by stating that whoever designed Apple TV’s free trial period should get a raise.
Yes, I am now a paying customer, but I must say that I am nowhere near being disappointed. There is some really great TV viewing here and I thought you might like to hear about it (after writing that, it occurs to me that the folks over at Apple might want to slip me a few bucks for this one).
So as not to get lost in streaming land, I decided to watch only one or two episodes of several different series to get enough of a feel for a show so I would be able to recommend it.
When the Apple algorithm teased me with the title Down Cemetery Road, I didn’t at first recognize that, before writing the Slow Horses series, Mick Herron wrote the Zoë Boehm series beginning way back in 2003. If you loved Slow Horses, both the books and the show, which I heartily recommended last month, you are going to love this one as well. Down Cemetery Road follows the same rhythm as Slow Horses. Each season of eight episodes tells the story of a single book, in this case, Herron’s debut novel.
Boehm is a misanthropic private investigator in Oxford, UK. The plot involves a missing girl who is somehow connected to officials in the British government. I’ll not give away any more except to add that Boehm is played by the amazing and multiple award-winning actress Dame Emma Thompson.
The first season released in October of 2025 and a second is in the works. With four Zoë Boehm books in all, I suspect Ms. Thompson and Down Cemetery Road will be around for a while.
Another great series has a Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul vibe to it. Like those great shows, Pluribus is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is produced by Vince Gilligan who also directs the first two episodes of Season 1. Wikipedia struggles to nail down a genre for this one; “black comedy, drama, post-apocalyptic, psychological thriller, science fiction.” The “post-apocalyptic” label is a bit misleading; in Pluribus, the world has completely changed although most people think that the “apocalypse” was a good thing.
Rhea Seehorn, who starred alongside Bob Odenkirk in Better Call Saul, plays novelist Carol Sturka who seems to be the only one who wants to put the world back the way it was. While talking to a few of only thirteen humans unaffected by the “virus,” Sturka claims, “It’s up to us to put the world right.” One of the other uninfected, aboard Air Force One of all places, says, “Why?”
In Silo, 10,000 people live in a giant underground silo of 144 levels. The inhabitants have been told that the world outside the silo is toxic; for unknown reasons, of course. A celebration takes place that has the feel of the Fourth of July. The history is that a rebellion took place 140 years earlier which established the community now governed by “The Pact.” Nothing is known of life before the rebellion—or so it at first seems—and any “relics” from the “before times” are considered contraband; meaning some folks don’t want the people to know the truth of their actual history. Sound familiar?
The parallels with US History and what it means to be loyal and patriotic eerily ripple through this one, although I have only watched two episodes of Season 1. Season 2 is also available with Season 3 and the final Season 4 scheduled for later.
Everything you’ve heard about Ted Lasso is true. For the twenty-six of you who haven’t seen it yet, an American football coach is hired to coach an English Premier League soccer team, AFC Richmond. While the on-field action is a part of the show, other relational aspects are what make it click. Although never a fan of soccer, I was intrigued with some of the nuances of the game dramatized here.
Ted Lasso is hilarious, uplifting, and heartbreaking in equal measure. There are also some powerful undercurrents that drive the show through some of the heady issues of our day.
I watched all three available seasons of Ted Lasso. Before you wonder how I spend all this time in front of the TV, I must let you know that I watched these 34 hours of fascinating television while pedaling away on my stationary bike. While committing an hour each day on the bike can be a challenge, Ted Lasso made the time fly; helping me maintain the body weight goal I set ahead of my 65th birthday. Thanks Ted…
If you enjoyed Steven Spielberg’s Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), you’ll probably enjoy the nine episodes of Masters of the Air (2024). As in the first two, this Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks collaboration follows a specific military unit; in this case, the 100th Bomb Group of the Eighth Army Air Force, stationed in England beginning in June of 1943. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is featured as the 100th carries out incredibly dangerous missions over German-occupied Europe.
Some of the other television series I began watching on Apple TV require a little time to see where the plot is headed so, for these, I am intrigued, but the verdict is still out. Severance is about employees at an ultra-secret tech company whose memories of work are not present when they are in their personal lives.
Another one you may enjoy is The Studio about a Hollywood film studio and all the pathologies found in this cut-throat business. The Southern California scenes and the cars are cool, and the first two episodes had some pretty funny moments.
The fifth season of For All Mankind is beginning as I write. The first two episodes of Season 1 are set in Texas and Florida of 1969 on the eve of putting a man on the moon. An alternative turn in the actual history motivates the United States and the Soviet Union to pursue the space race with vigor; something the US famously failed to actually do. Indeed, it seems as if the biggest space talk today is… you guessed it… putting a man on the moon.
For All Mankind includes real historical figures, including the astronauts and their families, carrying out alternative historical roles; although some of the women exit the kitchen and might be headed toward the stars. This looks like a good one and, for 1969 at least, the music is sweet.
I’ve also found a few movies on Apple TV—most, if not all, are original productions—that are much more than just casual entertainment. Will Smith stars as Peter in Emancipation (2022), a slave who runs away after learning of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Set in Louisiana, Peter must reach the Union Army, which has taken control of Baton Rouge.
It wasn’t until the end of the movie that I discovered that Peter is the real-life subject of one of the most famous photographs documenting the treatment of the enslaved in the United States. In that regard, this movie is extremely violent; a necessary violence, however, that brings home the absolutely brutal nature of slavery and the harsh realities of our nation’s past. Again, this is the type of movie that undermines modern efforts to white-wash our history. That alone is a good reason to watch.
It seems that I can’t get enough of World War II and Tom Hanks. And now that I put that thought to paper, it occurs to me that the reason might be that the global order established by that war eighty years ago is unraveling as I write.
In Greyhound (2020), set in the North Atlantic in February of 1942, Hanks portrays Captain Ernest Krause, who commands the USS Keeling with radio call sign “Greyhound.” This Fletcher-class destroyer’s job is to escort a convoy of 37 merchant and troop ships across German U-Boat infested waters. Just to keep up on trivia night, Tom Hanks’ son Chet plays a sonar operator and Greyhound is based upon The Good Shepherd (1955) by C. S. Forester. (Promo Spot: I made some commentary on Greyhound’s portrayal of war in a recent Substack piece in light of our current operations in the Middle East.**)
My final recommendation is Finch (2021), another Tom Hanks film but of a different sort altogether. In a post-apocalyptic Earth, Hanks plays Finch Weinberg, who builds a robot from spare parts. His job is to protect Finch’s dog Goodyear and I’d tell you the robot’s name but that would spoil one of the best scenes in the movie. This is a heartwarming film that explores the very nature of humanity when times get tough.
Finch has hints of Hanks’ Castaway (2000), which also includes an inanimate companion. Do you remember Wilson? It also has a bit of Mad Max in it… and maybe toss in some Thelma and Louise…. add to that a robot who reminds me of Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation; and this one hits it on all cylinders for me.
Let me know if any of these great shows do the same for you.
*My Books & Such Column on Slow Horses
**Jimmy P. Morgan Substack, History in the News, March 25, 2026
https://jimmypmorgandayz.substack.com/p/history-in-the-news-df5
