‘Halo’ Series Introduces Conflicted Master Chief, Sci-Fi Universe That Feels Less Awe-Inspiring Than Familiar: TV Review

Carson Burton Emmy-award winning composer Geoff Zanelli is slated to compose the music for “The First Lady,” premiering on Showtime. The new hour-long anthology drama follows the lives of three of America’s First Ladies and stars Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt.Zanelli served as composer of films such as “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and “Christopher Robin,” and he won an Emmy award for his work in the Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks miniseries “Into the West.” He also was nominated for HBO’s “The Pacific,” another Spielberg collaboration.“I’ve had the honor of writing music for ‘The Pacific’ and ‘Into The West,’ both shows about distinct times in America’s history, but nothing as intimate as ‘The First Lady,'” Zanelli said.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticAs anyone who’s even fleetingly dipped into the vast, storied genre of the British spy thriller can attest, there are a few different games afoot in “Slow Horses.” What looks at first like a story of restless, demoted spies finding their purpose gets quickly twisted up in MI5 politics. Then, a couple of hours into the six-episode season, the show tries to turn everything we thought we knew inside out.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe first thing you need to do whilst watching HBO Max’s “Julia” is to get all other versions of Julia Child out of your head. That proves easier than might be expected, given such enduring depictions as Meryl Streep’s lauded turn in Nora Ephron’s “Julie and Julia” (2009) or, most cartoonishly, Dan Aykroyd’s “Saturday Night Live” performance of Child as a careening agent of chaos who constantly bleeds out like a geyser.

EXCLUSIVE: Hailey Kilgore (Power Book III: Raising Kanan), David Iacono (The Flight Attendant) and Jeremie Harris (Legion) have signed on to star in the noir film Cinnamon, which will stream exclusively on Fox’s free service, Tubi.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticIt says everything that not even Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the face could keep the Oscars ceremony from stubbornly chugging along its predetermined track, until Smith’s speech for winning best actor forced it to stop. In that jaw-dropping moment, what had been a self-consciously smooth night — the Academy Awards, as seen through some poreless filter — immediately and irrevocably shattered.

Joe Walker has won the Oscar for film editing for Dune — taking one of the eight technical categories that were controversially shifted out of the main telecast. Dune was the frontrunner for the win, which is Walker’s first after two previous nominations, for Arrival (in 2017, also directed by Denis Villeneuve) and 12 Years A Slave (2014).

Production designer Patrice Vermette and set decorator Zsuzsanna Sipos took home statuettes for their work on Dune at the Academy Awards on Sunday. Both Vermette and Sipos are first-time winners, though the former had previously been nominated for his work on the films The Young Victoria and Arrival.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission.After years of constant production delays, the intergalactic Spartans of the “Halo” universe are finally hitting the small screen. The new science-fiction series based on the first-person shooter video game premieres today on Paramount Plus, after an initial debut at SXSW on March 14.Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the highly anticipated sci-fi show revisits the 26th-century intergalactic war on which the Microsoft franchise is centered, following the indestructible Spartans (led by Pablo Schrieber’s Master Chief) as they battle their mysterious alien foes.

Best Picture Oscar nominees CODA, West Side Story and Don’t Look Up were among the winners at the Casting Society’s 37th annual Artios Awards, which were handed out today during a virtual ceremony that streamed live on YouTube. Check out the full list below.

Editor’s note: The Deadline Watchlist is a feature spotlighting small-screen specials, events and can’t-miss episodes of ongoing series each week. 1. Oscars: After three years without a host, the Academy Awards are tripling down with Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall set to take the stage and guide the 94th Oscar show which is promising to be one of the most entertaining ever, including musical performances from Beyonce, Reba McEntire, Billie Eilish, Sebastian Yatra, and more. Also expect a lavish production number of the smash hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”  from Encanto. Top nominees include Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Jessica Chastain, Nicole Kidman, Kristen Stewart, Steven Spielberg and many more. With a Best Picture winner still in doubt from a strong field of contenders, almost anything can happen and history may be made. After Covid affected last year’s stripped down telecast you can expect the Oscars to turn up the fashion heat on the red carpet as well as Hollywood’s biggest night hopefully returns to the kind of glamour and excitement it is known for. The theme for this year is “Movie Lovers Unite” , and producer Will Packer is promising a show that delivers that message on many levels even with the sidelined categories controversy. — Pete HammondMarch 27, ABC, 5:00PM PT/8:00PM ET. Red Carpet Pre Show hosted by Vanessa Hudgens, Terrence J, & Brandon Maxwell airs 3:30PM PT/6:30 ET.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticIt takes six episodes for the characters of “Bridgerton” Season 2 to acknowledge the obvious. Ever since they first laid eyes on each other, Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and formidable newcomer Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley of “Sex Education”) have shared such overwhelming sexual tension that most everyone in the same room can feel its vibrations of longing.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic“Life & Beth,” Amy Schumer’s new show for Hulu, unfolds in three distinct acts. The first sees Beth (Schumer) as a wine salesperson in Manhattan who’s quietly miserable with her job and in her relationship to Matt (Kevin Kane), a “New York 8” who treats her like an inconvenient afterthought.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe most interesting thing about the new comedy “Welcome to Flatch” just might be the way in which Fox is rolling it out. While the pilot episode will premiere March 17 on the broadcast network before airing weekly, the first seven (7!) episodes will also be available to stream on FoxNow and Hulu earlier that same day, thus giving curious viewers a chance to marathon half the season well before those who keep tuning in the traditional way.It might seem an odd approach at first glance, but the vast majority of comedies have always needed a few episodes to figure out the particular rhythms of their dialogue and cast chemistry — something “Welcome to Flatch” director Paul Feig knows well enough, having come in to “The Office” at the beginning of Season 2, right as the eventual smash hit was really beginning to gel.

EXCLUSIVE: Matt Bomer is in early talks to join the cast of the upcoming Netflix Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, which has Bradley Cooper directing and starring as the iconic composer. If a deal closes, Bomer joins Carey Mulligan, who will play Bernstein’s wife Felicia. Pic will be produced by Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Cooper and his Joint Effort producing partner Todd Phillips, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and Fred Berner and Amy Durning.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaWhen Christopher Nolan was shopping for a studio for “Oppenheimer,” his look at the creation of the atomic bomb, Donna Langley sprang into action. The Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman believes that Nolan, along with Steven Spielberg and Jordan Peele, is one of the few filmmakers whose name above the title demands that audience will pay attention.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticAs TV expands beyond its traditional borders and attracts talent that would otherwise typically stick to films, the troubling trend of people describing their shows as “a [x]-hour movie” refuses to die. It’s never quite clear what they mean, but for whatever reason, this inherent snobbery about the medium of television persists from some of the most prominent people making it.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe blunt opening title card of “Shining Vale” feels like a test: “Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from depression,” it reads, seeming to signal the beginning of a clunky show about Women and Depression — at least until the next sentence appears onscreen. “Women are also twice as likely to be possessed by a demon,” it says, a immediate and deliberate wink of self-awareness at an audience that might’ve already tried to write the show off.

Amazon Prime Video.According to Deadline, the currently untitled show will start shooting by the end of the year, although details on the premise are being kept under wraps.This will be the first show she’s created under her three-year deal with Amazon Studios, which she signed back in September 2019.The deal came after the acclaimed second season of Fleabag, which picked up three awards at the 2019 Primetime Emmys.Speaking about the deal at the time, Waller-Bridge said: “I’m insanely excited to be continuing my relationship with Amazon. Working with the team on Fleabag was the creative partnership dreams are made of.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticA few episodes into “Our Flag Means Death,” aristocrat turned pirate ship captain Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) admires his spoils with a frisson of glee. “Why can’t one be a gentleman and a pirate?” he muses aloud to no one in particular, before deciding to embrace that inherent contradiction as his new moniker.