Are we having fun yet? No one knew Adam Scott would be an Emmy favorite (for Severance) when the classic cult show was finally revived, but it’s a nice touch. Scott was the nominal star of the Starz catering comedy, but while his hip sad sack struggling actor Henry Pollard is a great character, the program’s success mostly hinged on its incredible ensemble. We’re excited to have it back, but it’s not the only show we’re excited about on this Streaming Friday.

BRAD’S PICK:
Party Down [Starz, 9p]
You remember it, don’t you? If you’re here, you probably do, and you probably loved it. The cult hit hipster comedy about a bunch of down on their luck caterers is back for a soft reboot/third season. Years have passed and (most) of the crew is still around and still at it. The culture the original seasons tried to lampoon hasnt imoroved much. A lot of it has gotten worse, so America needs the wit and wisdom of Party Down more than ever.

KATHERINE’S PICK:
Bruiser [Hulu]
This drama–the first from Disney’s Onyx Collective–stars Jaylyn Hall as a young man exploring masculinity and what it means, studying the interactions and behavior of his father and a mysterious drifter.

JASON’S PICK:
The Reluctant Traveler [Apple TV+]
Both Eugene Levy’s persona and characters fit this premise: Levy as the nervous homebody who hosts a travel show in spite of himself. The locations are the usual fare of grand majesty and the delightfully obscure, but Levy’s grumpy, yet affable personality makes this worthwhile. 

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

• The plot of the new Netflix movie We Have a Ghost reads like a late 1970s TV Movie–and the image above makes it look like Anthony Mackie’s homeowner is being haunted by the spirit of Paul Lynde. However, it has an awesome cast, with in addition to Mackie, we’ve got David Harbour, Tig Notaro, Faith Ford, and the actress of the moment: Jennifer Coolidge.
• MUBI sounds a lot like Quibi, but has a more believable brand strategy–showing (potentially) prestige flicks by emerging directors. Today its Berlinaire Golden Bear winner Alcarras from Spain about a family drama when they have to make tough decisions to survive as agricultural options go awawy.
• Tubi sounds like MUBI, but it casts its net a bit wider. Today’s film du jour on Tubi is Best Friend, a thriller about a childhood friendship that goes awry when one of its members finds love–not with the… say it with us: best friend.

• Here at Scholars, we love us some Christoph Waltz. His latest leading role is in the dark workplace comedy The Consultant. Based on a popular 2015 novel, the Amazon Prime series centers around Waltz’ Regus Patoff, a sociopath brought in to whip a gaming company into shape.
• The cheekily titled Die Hart was initially intended to be doled out in small bites as one of the greatest selling points for the nascent Quibi channel. When the Quibi dream died, its assets were sold(?) to Roku. Now the Kevin Hart/John Travolta parody gets released in its entirety on the more elevated Amazon Prime platform as Die Hart: The Movie. The premise is Hart as a version of himself (yes, that version of himself) where he’s decided he’s now going to be an action star and hires Travolta as a version of NOT himself as an action hero guru. Of course, Hart gets caught up in a “real world” kerfuffle and awkwardly (especially for us) macks on a female student.
• Many recent needs for speed have been sated by the racing docu-series Formula 1: Drive to Survive. The Netflix program’s fifth season highlights events of the 2022 season, which makes sense given we are currently settling into 2023.

• Apple TV+ has been on quite the roll lately, but the multilingual (French/English) Vincent Cassel political thriller might end this run as Liaison is getting absolutely strafed by critics. Hence, even though we’ve loved the streaming services wares lately, this one gets relegated to the third group of also-rans.
• It’s a big day for sneaking out potential indie prestige flicks. The Film Movement Plus network brings us Yanagawa, a Chinese film about a man obsessed with a woman from his past.
• Finally, over in the LHV (Lifetime-Hallmark Vortex), the king of TV cinema drops the generically titled Newlywed Nightmare in which we’re going to guess either the groom is not who he appears or an old flame stalks the bride. But it turns out we are wrong as it is the bride who is abducted by money launderers, because, of course.
• Finally, finally, did you know there is a pop punk band from Iowa called Eugene Levy?