Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone getting a little stir crazy for summer vacation.
It’s not quite the same, but Screen Gab No. 134 contains plenty of recommendations to help you get away — whether it’s into the past, with “Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.”; at the side of Gordon Ramsay, in “Uncharted”; in search of luxury real estate, thanks to an emerging franchise of Netflix series; or to the movies, inspired by a beloved anime. Read on to fast-forward to your next trip (without having to leave the house).
Newsletter
You are reading Screen Gab newsletter
Sign up to get recommendations for the TV shows and streaming movies you can’t miss, plus exclusive interviews with the talent behind your favorite titles, in your inbox every Friday
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Advertisem*nt
ICYMI
Must-read stories you might have missed
Dominique, Denise and Tanya Brown, sisters of Nicole Brown Simpson, in New York earlier this month.
(Oliver Farshi / For The Times)
30 years after Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder, her sisters tell her story in docuseries: Denise, Dominique and Tanya Brown say they decided to speak about their sister in a new Lifetime docuseries to preserve her memory and to humanize the sibling they loved.
‘The Sympathizer’ author reveals the ‘red line’ he wouldn’t let HBO series cross: In the Emmy-season premiere of The Envelope podcast, we sit down with Maya Erskine, star of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” and Viet Thanh Nguyen and Don McKellar from HBO’s “The Sympathizer.”
For ‘Under the Bridge,’ Archie Panjabi mined a mother’s loss: ‘I could not control the pain’: Panjabi stars as Suman Virk in Hulu’s “Under the Bridge,” about the real-life murder of Reena Virk, and tells what it was like to tap into a mother’s grief and to forgive.
Being bad is good for Walton Goggins, whose turn in ‘Fallout’ has kept his star rising: The veteran character actor from “The Shield” and “Justified” is having a standout year, playing the Ghoul in Prime Video’s “Fallout” and a role in Season 3 of “The White Lotus.”
Advertisem*nt
Turn on
Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
An image from “Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.”
(HBO)
“Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A.” (HBO, Max)
This marvelous four-hour documentary dedicated to the life and music of the great soul and R&B label in Memphis, Tenn. — home to Otis Redding, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Booker T. and the MGs, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers and others — does not feel a minute too long, though the ride can sometimes be rough and the lessons hard. After a brief period recording country music, Stax — founded by white siblings Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton — and its attached Satellite Record Shop turned to Southern soul, creating new sounds and becoming a magnet for young Black musicians and music lovers. (And, notably, some white ones: House band the MGs were integrated in a segregated city.) It’s the story of a company and a community, of personal and national tragedy, of music and the music business, of getting knocked down and getting up again. From local dances to Monterey Pop to Wattstax, it’s inspiring, heartbreaking and, unlike a lot of music documentaries, actually full of music. —Robert Lloyd
A scene from “Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle.”
(Crunchyroll)
“Haikyu!” (Crunchyroll, Netflix)
Finally hitting U.S. theaters on Friday is “Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle,” a movie that picks up where “Haikyu!!” left off at the end of its fourth season. The anime series follows Shoyo Hinata and his high school volleyball team as they make their way to nationals. Hinata fell in love with the sport as a kid after catching a glimpse of Karasuno High School’s “Little Giant” — their small-in-stature volleyball ace — in action on TV. Short and energetic, Hinata is athletically gifted but never had the chance to be properly trained or compete in matches. He enrolls in Karasuno High to follow in the Little Giant’s footsteps, only to discover that his middle school rival is there too. The series is full of humor, heart and heartbreak, following the high-schoolers as the team gels through practices, training camps and competitions. It’s also plenty accessible to those who have no prior knowledge of volleyball. (And while watching the series is not required to enjoy “The Dumpster Battle,” familiarity with the show and its characters does enrich the experience.) —Tracy Brown
Catch up
Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about
Advertisem*nt
Daniel Daggers in “Buying London.”
(Netflix)
If you already knew the name Daniel Daggers when he turned up as the head of a luxury real-estate firm on Netflix’s latest high-end property series, “Buying London,” you are either a very wealthy Brit who needs better hobbies or, like me, a devotee of the streamer’s answer to “The Real Housewives” and “Below Deck.” After all, Daggers — who first appeared on “The Parisian Agency: Exclusive Properties” as a potential partner to the lovably close-knit Kretz family — has assumed the same role that Mauricio Umansky does at his (much messier) family business in “Buying Beverly Hills” and oversees stylized office high jinks like those of “Selling Sunset,” spinoff “Selling the O.C.” and since canceled “Selling Tampa.” (Yet another entry, New York-set “Selling in the City,” has been ordered to series; the separate “Owning Manhattan” premieres June 28.)
Of them all, it’s “Buying London,” piecing together the parts of an entire programming category into a Frankenstein’s monster of their worst instincts, that most clearly crystallizes the possibilities and risks of Netflix’s strategy. It is, in theory, proof of concept for an infinitely repeatable global format, one the platform has successfully (albeit controversially) achieved with “Love Is Blind” — no company in Hollywood is better prepared to hang its shingle in Monte Carlo, Dubai, Singapore, Sydney. But unfortunately, populated by both insipid architecture — too much Airbnb minimalism at an ultra-rich price point — and insipid characters — whose names, besides Daggers’, I never managed to remember — this iteration better illustrates the difference between enjoyably trashy and just plain trash.
It’s all in the execution, as they say. Seeing one cookie-cutter open-concept kitchen after another in Laguna Beach, for instance, seems logical, albeit numbing; to find such a lack of idiosyncrasy and charm in London is a serious disappointment. (“The Parisian Agency,” which has lately visited a stud farm and a converted church, easily fulfills this end of the bargain.) More to the point, in splitting the difference between the crisp professionalism of “The Parisian Agency” and the craven clout-chasing of its California counterparts, “Buying London” leaves itself in no man’s land, neither sincere enough to embrace nor arch enough to laugh at. When it comes to reality TV fireworks, the famed reserve of the British upper crust is what you might call a wet blanket. —Matt Brennan
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Mika and Gordon Ramsay learn to roll cigars in “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.”
(Justin Mandel / National Geographic)
Advertisem*nt
Gordon Ramsay has no taste for idleness. Perhaps that’s why the star chef and TV personality, who trekked to Jordan, Cuba, Hawaii and more far-flung locales for Season 4 of “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted” (Nat Geo, Hulu, Disney+), looks to athletes like Tom Brady and Michael Strahan for inspiration. “He has his hand in so many things,” Ramsay said of the former footballer and “Good Morning America” co-host. “I know I travel a lot, but that man must be in the sky as much as me.” Before “Uncharted” returned this week, he stopped by Screen Gab to discuss what he’s watching, what “The Bear” gets right about restaurant kitchens and more. — Matt Brennan
What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?
I really loved “The Dynasty: New England Patriots” on Apple TV+. Being in the States has made me an American football fan, and I became fascinated by Tom Brady after my first NFL game. That first game, ironically, was when Tom Brady beat the Falcons at the Super Bowl. So to understand what was happening behind the scenes was incredible, not just as a sports fan but as a former player myself. It also taught me his catchphrase, which I use all the time now. LFG!
What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the film or TV show you return to again and again?
“Wicked Tuna,” hands down. Whenever I’m traveling or working in America, I find Nat Geo and put it on. I love fishing so much, I do it every summer, and I’ve been known to some times to sneak away when the cameras aren’t rolling on “Uncharted.” I just love seeing the grit, hard work and, of course, the amazing fish they catch. It’s my dream one day to be on that show.
With “Uncharted,” you continue a trend of expanding into new genres: cooking shows, docuseries, competition shows, travel shows. Who’s your TV inspiration, the person whose onscreen career you look to as a model for your own and why?
That’s a tough one, since before “Hell’s Kitchen,” food wasn’t as mainstream as it is today. With that said, I have to look at Michael Strahan. He’s a former footballer like me, but I actually use my feet to play, and he has his hand in so many things in his next stage in his career. I know I travel a lot, but that man must be in the sky as much as me.
Advertisem*nt
Unvarnished opinion: How close is “The Bear” to an actual restaurant kitchen?
The kitchen Carmy builds in Season 2 is the kitchen any Michelin-starred chef dreams of. Trust me, I was jealous. I think why so many chefs, like me, love the show is we’ve been through so many of those moments the show captures. That said, I haven’t been locked in a walk-in before.
