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Tired of scrolling through endless amounts of shows and not knowing where to start? TV critics Steve Greene and Eric Deggans help you find a new favorite show.
This week's shows: Welcome Home Franklin from Apple TV+, A Bloody Lucky Day from Paramount+ and the Netflix stand up special Taylor Tomlinson: Have It All.
Keep reading ... to learn about what show has a connection to our LAist newsroom.
We are heading into Super Bowl weekend, a point in time where many folks default to hanging out on their couch and watching television. So what’s worth watching on the days before the game? And if you’re busy prepping for the big game, what’s worth checking out after it?
Each week on AirTalk, LAist 89.3's daily news show, we're joined by television critics who help parse through notable releases and tell us what's worth a binge. This week we were joined in-studio by NPR television critic Eric Deggans, and Steve Greene, freelance TV critic.
Listen to the full conversation for a rundown of the variety of shows they hit on. I’ll dig into three of them a little further to offer added insights.
This week’s shows/topics include:
Streaming on Apple TV+
A new installment in the streamer’s expansion of the original Charlie Brown, Peanuts Gang series. This TV special focuses on Franklin, an often overlooked member of the group who finally gets to shine with an origin story.
Overall take: What makes the Peanuts universe so special is that it transcends generations. In the case of Franklin, many grew up with the character being the sole source of POC representation in the group. Nonetheless, I appreciate him as a character and this approach they’re taking makes him all the more endearing.
Fun fact: As AirTalk’s Larry Mantle noted in our live segment, the creation of Franklin as a character was the result of pressure from Harriet Glickman, a local Angeleno who wrote to Peanuts creator Charles Schulz to add a character of color to the animated group. Harriet Glickman is also the mother of now-retired LAist Senior Editor Paul Glickman.
"It was delightful, Franklin finally gets his due ... it's a nice way for young kids to see there is a story that reflects ... being a person of color but also being a child of [the] military." — Eric Deggans, NPR
When and where: The TV special premieres on Friday, Feb. 16.
Streaming on Paramount+
A taxi driver thinks it's his lucky day after buying a lottery ticket, with his day only getting improved when a passenger offers $1 million. This excitement soon dies down when this long trip they take together unveils more sinister intentions.
"[It] sounds like an up and down emotional whiplash ... usually when you have shows that move between tones like that, it doesn't always feel like part of the same show, but here I think it does." — Steve Greene, freelance TV critic
Overall take: In a sense, the thriller brings a premise that’d be reminiscent of Michael Mann’s movie Collateral. And although you might not be as familiar with actors in A Blood Lucky Day, the experience will similarly keep you glued to your seat.
Fun facts: The series is an adaptation of a South Korean webtoon comic series of the same name, it’s author goes by the pseudonym Aporia. Webtoons are better known in South Korea than in the U.S., but in recent years it has become a growing, profitable industry estimated to be worth north of $60 billion.
When and where: All 10 episodes premiered Feb. 1 and are now streaming.
Streaming on Netflix
This stand-up special from comedian Taylor Tomlinson focuses on her work, how the newfound popularity has impacted her dating life, and more.
"It's a pleasure to see a really talented comic kind of come into her own in this way." — Eric Deggans, NPR
Overall take: Tomlinson is a comedian whose age demographic fits into millennials and Gen-Z, so those in that age group who haven’t had a chance to stumble onto her work should expect Have It All to resonate quite well.
Fun facts: This is Tomlinson’s third stand-up special for Netflix, and it comes at a notable time in her career. She’s also become the host of CBS' After Midnight, a late-night comedy panel game show inspired by Comedy Central’s @midnight. If both of these TV-related programs interest you, she’ll be performing on May 9 at Netflix’s ‘Netflix Is A Joke’ festival event at The Hollywood Bowl.
When and where: The comedy special premieres Tuesday, Feb. 13 on Netflix.
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The Garfield Bulldogs defeated the Roosevelt Rough Riders 28-24 at the 91st East LA Classic.
Why it matters: The event drew crowds in red and gold, blue and white, all there to cheer on their team and claim Eastside bragging rights.
Check out ... some of the night’s best moments. The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
Those were just some of the scenes inside Weingart Stadium, where the Garfield Bulldogs defeated the Roosevelt Rough Riders 28-24 at the 91st East LA Classic.
The event drew crowds in red and gold, blue and white, all there to cheer on their team and claim Eastside bragging rights.
Here are some of the night’s best moments.
The post The best moments from the 91st East LA Classic appeared first on LA Local.
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The L.A. County District Attorney’s office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez earlier this week. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Most serious claims haven’t materialized: Though federal prosecutors made headlines claiming in court documents and on social media that Alvarez was “leading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,” they have not filed charges related to those claims.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez on Wednesday. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He had served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Why Alvarez’s arrest made headlines: Alvarez was working as a city-contracted peace ambassador in MacArthur Park when he was arrested by federal agents in May. Federal and county prosecutors each brought felony charges against him, claiming he was in possession of body armor as a violent felon.
Bill Essayli, who leads the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A., pointed to the case on social media to criticize city officials for allowing taxpayer money to be “shelled out to a convicted gang murderer.”
About his criminal record: Judges in federal and state court have now dismissed prosecutors’ felony charges against Alvarez, after U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang found on Sept. 9 that Alvarez did not have a violent felony conviction. Alvarez was 15 when he committed a gang-related murder. He was tried and convicted as an adult in 2002. After a change in state law increased the age at which minors could be sentenced as adults to 16, Alvarez’s case was sent back to juvenile court, and he was released in 2024. At that point, he had served more than 20 years.
Most serious claims haven’t materialized: Though federal prosecutors made headlines claiming in court documents that Alvarez was “leading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,” they have not filed charges related to those claims.
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An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The backstory:
Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Eliana Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring. “There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” Pipes said. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
What's next: ¡Sí Se Puede!’s upcoming free shows are:
An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The show's extension had been announced prior to the news that Huerta died Wednesday, Oct. 28., at her Bakersfield home. She was 96 years old.
“There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” said playwright Eliana Pipes. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring.
The next free, family-friendly shows are:
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There’s a whole world of underground Southern California music history that’s hidden in storage boxes — photos, fliers, cassettes and other memorabilia. Research librarians at the California State University, Los Angeles are holding a community archive event on Nov. 5 to ensure the cultural memory of L.A.’s underground music scenes are preserved for future generations.
Why it matters: The memorabilia are the physical remnants of the supportive L.A. communities built around music and enjoyment. But many of these objects languish out of sight, and run the risk of being lost, along with the memories attached to them.
Why now: For four years, archive staff have held an annual day to receive ephemera from the public. They're doing it again on Thursday, Nov. 5.
Read on… to hear how goth, rockabilly and other underground clubs in L.A. inspired the head archivist.
Right around the year 2000, there was a club night in Hollywood called Clockwork Orange. Fans of The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and other bands came for the DJ’s mix of their favorite songs but also for a vibe that welcomed people regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual and gender identity.
“I was a pretty shy person, and so that was a place where I could sort of be myself and express myself,” said Azalea Camacho, a regular there in those days.
She had just graduated from Workman High School in the City of Industry and was also clubbing at rockabilly music nights in Rosemead and goth club nights in downtown L.A.
Camacho said there was lots of memorabilia from those times, such as photos taken in and outside the clubs, ticket stubs and promotional fliers. They're the physical remnants of those supportive communities built around music and enjoyment, but many of them languish in shoeboxes and storage units, at risk of being lost — along with the memories attached to them.
“I think the danger is maybe those stories are not being told, or people don't know about the story,” she said.
More than two decades later, Camacho is now in a position to make sure those stories are kept alive. She’s head of special collections and archives at the university library at California State University, Los Angeles.
Four years ago, she and library staff created an annual day for area residents to donate or digitize memorabilia for their Sounds of the Underground Archive. This year it's on Thursday, Nov. 5. They’ll accept physical donations, but they’ll also have a scanner to digitize printed material, so people can keep items that are precious to them.
Date: Thursday, Nov. 5
Time: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: Cal State LA Library Community Room, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles
Camacho is hoping this year will bring in a bumper amount of memorabilia. It's taken time to get the word out, she said.
“From the actual community archiving day [we’ve collected] maybe 100 or less than 100 items. … It's not a lot,” she said.
She said they're on the lookout for a wide range of mementos, including:
