At one point in time, it would have been hard to imagine Meryl Streep on television at all, yet here we are coming off her second season tour de force on Big Little Lies, we find ourselved this longest December on the first of two days when we can watch the greatest actor of our time on the small screen two days in a row. Someone needs to check on Billy Eichner. Yes, the Pandemic is part of it–bringing movies that normally would have debuted in theaters to our homes–but it’s also a testament that doing TV is no longer below an A-lister’s paygrade. By the way, besides Streep, the film also stars legends Candice Bergen and Dianne Wiest.

BRAD’S PICK:
Let Them All Talk [HBO Max]
Steven Soderbergh, Meryl Streep. Not names you not normally associate with light entertainment, but I’ve seen this vacation flick described as such. A romance about an literary agent on a trip with some friends? Ya think there will be something deeper under the surface. I would suspect so.

KATHERINE’S PICK:
Summer Camp Island [HBO Max]
Oscar and Hedgehog encounter witches in the season three debut of Julia Pott’s sweetly animated show.

JASON’S PICK:
Funny Boy [Netflix]
While this Canadian entry for the Academy Awards has earned some criticism–in what is a bit of an intersectional nightmare, the well-meaning tale of a young gay man coming-of-age in dangerous times in Sri Lanka has come under fire for its lack of native Tamil-speaking actors. There is a viable valid reason in that such actors may fear retribution from a stern and homophobic regime. Unfortunately, Mehta has also come under fire for collaborating with said regime out of supposed necessity. However, the film itself has earned mostly positive reviews and its trailer holds promise for a sweeping vision of a motion picture, Ma Vie En Rose style. 

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

• A star-studded line-up, most of whom currently have plays on Broadway–or would, but, you know, Pandemic!–grace the NBC special One Night Only: The Best of Broadway with performances from musicals that include a Harry Potter-inspired one and an Alanis-inspired one, and here you’d already won us over in spite of us! It’s hosted by Tina Fey, whose heralded Mean Girls adaptation will also be featured.
• Whether they choose Dr. Anthony Fauci or Dr. Fauci, Anthony, the TIME Person of the Year, also airing on NBC should be essential viewing. Fauci (along with frontline healthcare workers) is one of four finalists announced this morning which also include the “movement for racial justice” (which we believe would also be a worthy choice), President-Elect Joe Biden, and some orange guy who we do not recognize as we are writing this TV round-up from the brightest timeline.
• In any other context, the line “you’re definitely not a ho” would seem a compliment, but in the trailer for this new HBO Max reality show, wielded by a Ho family matriarch, it’s a careful read clearly meant to cut to the bone. Inspired by Crazy Rich Asians, House of Ho documents the lavish lifestyle of the wealthy Hos of Texas.