Yes/No Detroit

*Note: At the time of this review, only 7 of the 10 episodes were available for press. I feel like AppleTV+ has some of the best TV shows around, yet no one ever talks about them. Fortunately, I received media access to AppleTV+ recently, and I noticed over my Christmas break that both Dickinson  season 2 and Servant  season 2 were up on the press app. Goodbye, productivity! Servant  season 1 was probably one of the most unique shows I had seen in a long time,  and the season debuted in late November 2019. M. Night Shyamalan is one of the producers, so it wasn't surprising that the series was eerie and crazy.  The S1 ending left me with a TON of questions, so I was super excited to see that season 2 was available to me on the press app! At the time of this review, I have watched 7 of the 10 episodes available—because of the pandemic, AppleTV+ was finishing up the last three episodes. Which is good, because episode 7 left me with even more questions ... at first...

Courtesy of: AppleTV+ I am a huge fan of Jennifer Garner—and have been ever since Alias , or perhaps even before then—so I was excited to see she was coming back to the "small screen" with The Last Thing He Told Me , on AppleTV+, which will debut this Friday, April 14. Garner is also one of the producers on the show. The rest of the cast is not too shabby either: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) , Angourie Rice (Mare of Easttown) , Aisha Tyler (Criminal Minds ), David Morse, and even Garner's Alias co-star, Victor Garber, in a smaller supporting role. The show is based on a novel of the same name , by Laura Dave, which I'm now interested in reading. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Jennifer Garner, in The Last Thing He Told Me. Courtesy of: AppleTV+ About the show: The story follows Hannah (Jennifer Garner) whose husband mysteriously vanishes overnight, leaving only a note. Left to navigate the aftermath of this strange incident, Hannah begins to forge a relationship ...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: AppleTV+ doesn't usually promote its shows much. So when I see a show on there that I love, I like to write about it.  Physical , debuting June 18, 2021, actually was promoted a little bit, mostly through its trailers, but it ended up being a really, really good show. Rose Byrne stars as Sheila, a bored housewife in 1980s California who seems pleasant on the outside, but on the inside, has a biting—and often hilarious—inner monologue. She stumbles across an aerobics studio in the mall one day and soon is hooked; she starts taking classes, and later, teaching them, all without telling her husband anything about it. Her husband is running for office and that's what's been preoccupying him, so Sheila is often the last person on his mind. Rose Byrne is fantastic as Sheila, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Rory Scovel, as her husband Danny, who seems harmless enough but is always overlooking Sheila's needs and ...

Adam Scott in Severance I honestly haven't written a TV review in quite some time—I think the last review I wrote was for Servant , also on AppleTV+—because there hasn't really been any TV shows that were unique enough to warrant a review. Severance , however, debuting February 18th on AppleTV+, has been a show that I've been obsessed with over the past few weeks as I've been watching it on the AppleTV+ screener site, and I'm excited to share a review of it. About the show: A new workplace thriller from director and executive producer Ben Stiller, and creator Dan Erickson, starring Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Patricia Arquette, Adam Scott, Emmy Award winner John Turturro, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, Academy Award winner Christopher Walken and more. In “Severance,” Mark Scout (Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring e...

all photos courtesy of: AppleTV+ / Review Wire Media This is a sponsored post on behalf of Review Wire Media for Apple TV+. Jane will premiere this Friday, April 14 on AppleTV+, and it looks like a cute show for parents and kids to watch together, and also a good show for animal-lovers.  About the show: Apple TV+ today unveiled the launch date and cast for “Jane,” a new 10-episode mission-driven series for kids and families inspired by the work of Dr. Jane Goodall. From Emmy Award winner J.J. Johnson (“Dino Dana”, “Endlings,” “Ghostwriter”), Sinking Ship Entertainment and the Jane Goodall Institute, “Jane” premieres globally on Friday, April 14 on Apple TV+. Ava Louise Murchison (“Reacher”) stars as Jane Garcia, a 9-year-old budding environmentalist on a quest to save endangered animals. Using her powerful imagination, Jane takes her best friends David, played by Mason Blomberg (“Shameless”), and Greybeard the chimpanzee on epic adventures to help protect wild animals all around th...

Gugu Mbatha-Raw I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you don't subscribe to AppleTV+ , you're missing out, and I'm not just saying that because I have press access through them. I believe it's only $4.99 a month—much cheaper than Netflix and Hulu—and the shows are very good.  Surface, starring The Morning Show 's Gugu Mbatha-Raw, will debut this Friday, July 29th, and I'm excited to share it with you. About the show, from AppleTV+: Set in high-end San Francisco, “Surface” stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“The Morning Show”), who also executive produces, as Sophie, a woman who has suffered a traumatic head injury that has left her with extreme memory loss, believed to be a result of a suicide attempt. As Sophie embarks on a quest to put the pieces of her life back together with the help of her husband and friends, she begins to question whether or not the truth she is told is in fact the truth she has lived. Through twists and turns and an unexpected love ...

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Review Wire Media for Apple TV+. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. “Frog and Toad” will make its debut Friday, April 28, 2023 on Apple TV+. This looks like it will be a cute show for kids, and it's based on the children's book series by Arnold Lobel. About the show: Frog is a frog. Toad is a toad. They have a lot in common… but they are also very different. Frog and Toad are best friends who know that the true secret to friendship is not only enjoying the things you have in common, but embracing the things that make you different. Since our differences are what makes us special, Frog and Toad celebrate what makes them unique!  The talented voice cast includes Academy Award winner Nat Faxon ("Our Flag Means Death," "The Connors") and Emmy Award nominee Kevin Michael Richardson ("The Simpsons," "Family Guy") as Frog and Toad, as well as appearances by Ron Funches ("Trol...

This week has seemed long, and it's cold and miserable out today (47 and raining ... at the end of May? #PureMichigan), but this weekend should be fun. I forgot that I get Monday off of work, too, so I'm going to see my boyfriend and also see A Quiet Place Part 2 ...  in EMAX, at Emagine Royal Oak! Crumbl Cookies, from its Rochester Hills location What I've been up to this week: Antibody bloodwork and Crumbl Cookies . I finally had my COVID-19 antibody test on Tuesday, at the LabCorp at the Walgreens in Rochester Hills. Normally it takes them 2-3 days to provide results, but I'm in a study through UNC, and UNC said they batch ship blood samples, so I should have results in 2-4 weeks. I'm a little scared that I have no antibodies, even though I've been vaccinated, because that's been the case with a few immunocompromised people, but I try to tell myself that I shouldn't worry about it until I actually get the results. As a nice bonus, Crumbl Cookies was a...

Today is April 1st, aka April Fools' Day, so trust no one, haha ... Quordle and Heardle already got me today, quite early this morning, I might add (at 12am ET when they refresh daily).  Pineapple cocktail at Bobby Q's, Phoenix What I've been up to this week: Traveling . From Sunday through Tuesday, I was in Phoenix for work, for the SNX conference, all about the snack industry. It was a quick trip but it was definitely nice to see some 80 to 90 degree temps. The conference was at the Hilton Pointe Tapatio resort, which was beautiful but HUGE—the easiest way to get from my room was to call the front desk to send me a golf cart, otherwise it was like a 15- to 20-minute walk. I was able to see some UM friends for dinner on Monday night too, and we went to Bobby Q's, where I had the pineapple drink pictured above. Weirdly, when I went to Phoenix last month for fun, it was on MST (Mountain Standard Time), which is two hours behind EST; Michigan is now currently on ET, but P...

For a short week, it has seemed awfully long, so I am glad it is Friday. I am seeing the new Thor  movie in 3D tonight so I am looking forward to that.  Cookie pie at Granite City, always delicious What I've been up to this week: Cooking, trying a new meal kit, and eating out . A friend gave me a free Purple Carrot code to try, so that's what I cooked last week. Purple Carrot is a vegan/vegetarian meal kit. It looks like I talked about it in last week's Friday Five but I made the Tarragon Noodles later last week, which included what looked like homemade ramen, and it was surprisingly very good; it had zero dairy in it and also included kale chips, which I don't usually like, but I loaded it up with garlic salt, haha. This week I had Hello Fresh, which was a nice treat because I hadn't had them in a while; I love how they package each meal separately, with the meats on the side under ice packs, because it's easy to just put them in my fridge, versus separating t...

I'm kind of glad that I'm staying put in Michigan this weekend—last weekend I went to Indiana and the weekend before was Cincinnati. No more trips planned for the near future except a 1-night trip to Frankenmuth next month for their beer festival. Thin-crust veggie pizza from Glover's in Kokomo, IN What I've been up to this week: Visiting Indiana . My boyfriend's family lives in Russiaville, Indiana, next to Kokomo, and we visited them from Friday through Monday. His sister lives about an hour away in Indianapolis, too, so she also came up. It was about a 4-hour drive, although somehow we made it into a 5.5- or 6-hour drive going, and did it in four hours coming back. We went out for Mexican food with them on Friday night and also did pizza takeout on Sunday night. The last time I went to Indiana was for the Indianapolis Comic Con in 2018 , so it was interesting to see a bit more of the state. Seeing movies . I watched the new Fantastic Beasts  at the theater yester...

Paul Walter Houser and Taron Egerton So as I'm writing this review, it's the end of May, and I've just finished Black Bird  ... but since the embargo drops today, June 30th, I have no one to talk to about it! And I wish I did, because this show is fantastic.  About the show: Inspired by actual events, when high school football hero and decorated policeman’s son Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison, he is given the choice of a lifetime—enter a maximum-security prison for the criminally insane and befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), or stay where he is and serve his full sentence with no possibility of parole. Keene quickly realizes his only way out is to elicit a confession and find out where the bodies of several young girls are buried before Hall’s appeal goes through. But is this suspected killer telling the truth? Or is it just another tale from a serial liar? This dramatic and captivating story s...

Last weekend (my birthday weekend, technically) was epic, so I have a lot of things to write about today! This week has been a bit tough BUT I am leaving for Vegas on Sunday, which should be a lot of fun.   "Pretzel nuggz" from HopCat Ann Arbor What I've been up to this week: Dining out . My last time dining in at a restaurant prior to this weekend was December 13th, aka the doomed dinner where two of the six of us got COVID. Not sure why I didn't mention this in last week's Friday Five, but on Thursday I went out to Fogo de Chao, in Troy, for my birthday, which is always excellent. I hadn't been since before the pandemic, I think they had less "meat men" (servers) walking around but other than that everything was very good. On Friday, I went to Phoenicia in Birmingham, a Mediterranean restaurant that I had not tried before, and everything was fantastic; I don't usually like hummus, but theirs was great. For Friday lunch I also did Cheesecake Fac...

I have been eating well this week, so much so that I had an issue limiting this post to only two pictures. I'm very glad it's Friday, though, as the week has felt long, even though I had a lot of fun stuff going on. Drinks at Weiss Distilling Co., Clawson What I've been up to this week: Going out to eat . Last week, a friend treated me to drinks and dinner for my birthday, and we tried out two new establishments: Weiss Distilling Co. and The Lucky Duck, both in Clawson. Weiss was pretty much all I had imagined it to be: it's a speakeasy, and you enter through an elevator (which doesn't GO anywhere, haha, but still fun). Alcoholic drinks were about $12 each and they also had non-alcoholic drinks for $4-5. We ordered the drinks pictured above, I believe mine was called Science Fiction and had whiskey, vodka, root beer, and coconut milk in it; it was a unique combination and worked well. After that we walked over to The Lucky Duck, a new Asian fusion restaurant, and th...