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Need some good recommendations for new television shows? We're here to help.
This week's picks: We hear from two TV critics this week and get their thoughts on The Bear Season 2, Marvel's Secret Invasion, and I'm A Virgo.
Trivia fact: I'm A Virgo was created by Boots Riley, who wrote and directed the 2018 film Sorry to Bother You.
Is it a bit exhausting for you to scroll along streaming services, trying to figure out what show premise is speaking to you like you’re picking between your favorite takeout spots?
The feeling isn’t much different from when you try a new food and end up getting disappointed halfway through your first bite. You’re at least lucky in that you don’t have to track the nutritional benefits of your favorite show (maybe the snacks you eat while watching it but that’s beside the point).
Luckily for you though that’s what television critics are for! Some folks have really been able to develop their taste to where they can give you an honest opinion. So that you can better find stuff you think fits your current taste and maybe something that’ll expand it! That’s where we come in.
On LAist 89.3’s AirTalk, we bring television critics every week to give you a rundown of those shows that are fresh out of the oven. They’ll serve you a taste of what to expect and from there, you can choose whether or not you want to eat the rest.
Sound good? Are you hungry now? Well while you wait for your food to be ready to eat, read through what we got to tell you.
This week, AirTalk’s Larry Mantle talked about the latest on television and streaming with Angie Han, TV critic for The Hollywood Reporter, and Liz Shannon Miller, senior entertainment editor at Consequence.
This week’s shows include:
Streaming on Hulu
“Season 2 contains essentially so much of what made season one so memorable. It continues to evolve upon [its] very unique tone and approach.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence
“What this season does so well is just fleshed out the ensemble… this season we get to know about Marcus, Richie, [and] we get to see more of Sydney's home life.” – Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter
First impression: The show centers on the life of Carmy, a James Beard award-winning chef who takes on his late brother’s restaurant in Chicago, The Original Beef, and the issues that come with it. The first season saw him and the restaurant staff attempting to manage through one issue after another and doing so in a way that honors Carmy’s brother, Michael.
Spoiler for Season 1 and a transition to what season gets into: The Original Beef comes to a close, and from its ashes we see the crew open up a new restaurant called The Bear. The new place offers more fine dining than the deli-style spot we saw at the beginning of Season 1.
Season 2 offers you more of a well-rounded look into the crew and sees them adjust to their new style of doing business.
Lasting impression: It’s a show that’s pacing feels perfect, being 30-minute episodes that keep you engaged and don’t lose steam in the way longer performances can. This show will also get looped into the comedy category but it’s way more than that; don’t let genres fool you because if anything this show’s driving force is its drama and character exploration.
The first season is an easy binge at a total of four hours and change, so it’ll be easy to see why this show gets the kind of critical acclaim it does. Not only that but it’ll serve as either an introduction to what it’s like working in a kitchen or re-hash the memories you got working in one.
Each character, from their costume design and acting style, feels unique in the context of the show; the distinctness of each character is another thing I love since you get to appreciate them for who they are. To offer a shoutout to one of the supporting roles, I love Marcus (played by Lionel Boyce of Odd Future fame), his love for pastries is refreshing and I think his growth in the show is such a cool development. He’s one of the characters who benefit from the second season's deeper dive.
Who's behind it: The show creator is Christopher Storer, who’s worked on projects I’m very fond of. He’s worked as a show producer for the Hulu show Ramy, Bo Burnham’s directorial debut Eighth Grade, and Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix stand-up special Homecoming King.
All of these have their different levels of humor but also do a good job of telling a pointed story that still offers an exploration of the human condition in a way that feels universal. So although you aren’t a middle schooler in today’s age, or the kid of immigrant parents, these projects are ways you can empathize and also reflect on your life through the overarching points each of them makes.
When and where: All 10 episodes of Season 2 are streaming now on Hulu.
Read Angie’s review of The Bear Season 2 for The Hollywood Reporter by clicking here.
Streaming on Disney+
“It's not about superheroes, it's about potential threats within our own world.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence
“It didn't click for me quite [but] I will admit, it might just be [that] there's just been so much Marvel content over the past decade-plus that I'm probably a little bit burnt out.” – Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter
First impression: Nick Fury is back on a secret mission with his colleague Talos, trying to stop a group of enemy Skrulls (an out-of-this-world group of shapeshifters in Marvel comics and its cinematic universe) who are looking to invade Earth by infiltrating high-profile, powerful positions.
For those who aren’t sure where this fits into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this show’s timeline fits in with recent films that released this year like Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Worth noting though that this series is meant to be a spy thriller, so it’s much more low key but its consequences will likely reverberate across the MCU.
Lasting impression: As someone who was an avid Marvel Cinematic Universe fan up until Endgame, having sporadically seen some of what’s come out since I’d say this show is solid. I think it may be hard to keep up with if you aren’t delved into what’s going on in the MCU because a lot of what it’s referencing does require some prior knowledge.
I will say though that I did enjoy the stage being set in the first episode. It reminded me of Captain America: The Winter Soldier although I felt Secret Invasion does a lot better job of serving as a spy thriller. Some folks may feel differently, which I understand, mainly because I wasn’t as high on The Winter Solider as others were.
Who's behind it: The show’s creator is Kyle Bradstreet, he notably was a writer and producer for the show Mr. Robot starring Rami Malek and Christian Slater. The pacing of Mr. Robot is something you’ll be able to find in Secret Invasion, and I think the subtleness of both shows is something you’ll definitely take to if you enjoy espionage and cunning action.
When and where: Episode 1 was released yesterday June 21 on Disney+; episode 2 is scheduled to release on Wednesday, June 28.
Read Liz’s latest piece on Secret Invasion for Consequence by clicking here.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
“Jharrel Jerome is just so utterly winning and so likable. I feel like when I watched, I just felt this protectiveness over him, which made the show work so well for me.” – Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter
“[The show] made me really excited just to look at each individual scene and try to figure out how [Boots Riley] did it… because so much of it feels practical and hand-built.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence
First impression: A bit of an off-kilter, coming-of-age story on a 19-year-old named Cootie who was born with the trait of being 13 feet tall. The show sees him wanting to learn more about the world, and loving comic books, but also getting brought down to a certain degree by his parents.
This has all the elements of a coming-of-age story, however, I feel like comparing it to others feels very much like “apple and oranges.”
Lasting impression: I really appreciated the need to tackle a story where a kid feels abnormal, not as a result of who they are but more so as a result of how folks treat him, primarily his parents since they spend so much time together. This show is essentially his journey in becoming Cootie the person and moving away from just being this shut-in child.
You always hope a parent is going to be the best role model, but this show reminds you sometimes they got their own issues that you’ll eventually find out about, and it’s through that that you become your own person.
Who's behind it: The show is created by Boots Riley, who you might know as the director of the 2018 film “Sorry To Bother You.” Riley’s creative direction is identifiable in both, you’ll find an absurd presentation in a world not far off from ours but gets into the social component of each issue at hand.
I’m A Virgo, and from the some I’ve seen, does get into why a young man who’s well-meaning and curious about the world around him can’t experience things since it may freak folks out. Sorry, To Bother You looks more at the social consequences of a well-meaning person wanting to move up in the professional world, only to realize that their lack of a political analysis leads to them getting taken advantage of.
When and where: All seven episodes are streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
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Secret stand-up shows are happening where ticket-buyers are told where to show up just hours before. It's all part of the new Don't Tell Comedy series.
Details: The sites vary from parking lots, furniture stores, wine shops and other unconventional settings for stand-up comedy.
Read on ... to find a secret comedy show.
The post appeared first on LA Local.
Go past the dog walkers and strollers up the hilly street with the massive refinery. You’ll see an aerospace company’s moon buggy mural. Head toward a classic dingbat apartment and you’ll find a surfer-themed bar in a WWII-style Quonset hut.
Shh. There’s a secret comedy show happening in there where a comic is revealing secret techniques to make babies fart.
Don’t Tell Comedy shows like this one at Boardroom Brewery in El Segundo last month are happening all around Los Angeles County. They are stand-up shows where the crowd is only given venue clues ahead of time and only told where to be just hours before. The sites vary from parking lots, furniture stores, wine shops and other unconventional settings for stand-up comedy.
Boardroom Brewery bartender Rick Mathiesen told The LA Local that the night started with folks “getting out of their Ubers with confused looks on their faces.” They were trying to figure out if they got the right place, especially when the beach town bar rolled down its see-through hangar door.
The secret comedy show organization started in 2017 with backyard and living room pop-up shows. It has expanded its clandestine comedy format to more than 200 cities, including areas across LA such as downtown, Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Pasadena.
Griffin James, the emcee of the night and a local producer for Don’t Tell Comedy, was seen putting 80 chairs away by himself — hey, legendary comic Sam Kinison got his start as The Comedy Store’s doorman.
The 26-year-old Griffin said the gigs are still as competitive as landing a stage at The Laugh Factory, where he’s performed. There’s an added benefit for the audience: There is no mandatory two-drink minimum, which makes it more affordable than a night at a traditional comedy club.
Most comics at Don’t Tell Comedy shows are up-and-coming locals, but a few big names like Ali Wong, Nikki Glaser and Michael Che have appeared.
Jenna Lewanda told The LA Local that she and her boyfriend, Manny Aguilar, decided to take a trip from their West Hollywood home to the mystery spot in El Segundo. Their usual haunts for live comedy are the Hollywood Improv and a friend’s show, Hambone Comedy.
Lewanda received a message at 9 a.m. that Saturday with the location details. She looked it up and committed the odd curved building to memory. She was happy that night’s headliner was a famous stand-up: Brad Williams.
Williams — a comedian with dwarfism who has two Showtime specials and a Netflix stand-up episode under his belt — closed out the seven-comic show that night.
He got a lot of laughs recalling a camping incident where a park ranger told him to “get big” when confronted by a bear. The 4-foot-4-inch Williams’ response: “How?”
With less than three weeks until Election Day, outside groups are pouring millions of dollars into two types of state legislative races: purple districts featuring a Democrat and a Republican, and safely Democratic districts featuring Democrats of different ideological stripes.
The backstory: Since they came on the scene in January, two new tech-backed groups have dominated spending in legislative races. Grow California, funded by cryptocurrency investor Chris Larsen and venture capitalist Tim Draper as a “counterforce” to union spending, has spent more than $20 million this cycle. California Leads, funded by Meta and Google, has spent close to $14 million this year to support candidates who are focused on “real-world solutions rather than ideological fights.”
With less than three weeks until Election Day, outside groups are pouring millions of dollars into two types of state legislative races: purple districts featuring a Democrat and a Republican, and safely Democratic districts featuring Democrats of different ideological stripes.
Political action committees backed by politically powerful groups such as unions and business have spent over $100 million on California legislative races so far this election cycle, eclipsing 2024 spending. Groups can spend unlimited amounts on “independent expenditures” to boost or oppose a candidate, providing they don’t coordinate with the campaign.
Since they came on the scene in January, two new tech-backed groups have dominated spending in legislative races. Grow California, funded by cryptocurrency investor Chris Larsen and venture capitalist Tim Draper as a “counterforce” to union spending, has spent more than $20 million this cycle. California Leads, funded by Meta and Google, has spent close to $14 million this year to support candidates who are focused on “real-world solutions rather than ideological fights.”
Legislative Action PAC, which Republican strategists founded in 2025 at the request of Republican lawmakers amid frustration with the official state Republican Party, is also spending for the first time this cycle. It aims to help Republicans hold seats they flipped in 2024, and its major funders include Google, AT&T and oil and gas companies. The PAC and its offshoots, Legislative Action Victory PAC and Legislative Bipartisan Action PAC, have spent at least $6 million to support Republican candidates since April.
A CalMatters analysis of spending since the June 2 primary found that these are the nine most expensive competitive general election contests in the Legislature. Total spending in each race includes campaign spending from the primary through Sept. 19, the most recent reporting period, and independent expenditures from the primary through Oct. 13.
The priciest race so far is between two millennial Democrats who both serve on the Santa Ana City Council in Orange County. Lopez is the more progressive of the two: She helped pass a rent control ordinance in 2021 and faced a recall attempt by the local police union after she voted to create a police oversight commission in 2022. Tech money is flowing to help her opponent: In recent weeks, California Leads has spent $1.4 million and Grow California has spent $1.3 million on ads supporting Penaloza.
Several powerful unions, including those representing public employees, nurses and California State University faculty, have spent a combined $1.4 million on ads supporting Lopez and attacking Penaloza.
In the battle to succeed Sen. Ben Allen, Brian Goldsmith, an entrepreneur and former senior adviser for the pro-Israel advocacy group Democratic Majority for Israel, faces John Erickson, a West Hollywood city councilmember. The coastal Los Angeles district includes Malibu and Santa Monica. The two candidates are sharply divided on renter protections. Erickson supports repealing both the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act and the Ellis Act, which limit local rent control and allow landlords to evict tenants to leave the rental business. That’s likely driving the influx of money supporting Goldsmith from the California Apartment Association, which has spent $450,000 on independent ads attacking Erickson. The California Realtors Association is the main funder of a PAC that’s spent over $600,000 backing Goldsmith.
Criminal justice reform advocates and organized labor, including the carpenters and school employees association, have bankrolled ads supporting Erickson.
Republican Assemblymember Greg Wallis is again fighting hard to retain his seat representing a purple district that includes both deep-blue Palm Springs and Cathedral City as well as conservative suburbs around Redlands and Yucaipa. Wallis has a significant fundraising advantage over his opponent, Democrat Leila Namvar, a former local labor leader and city planner. His campaign has outspent hers 6-to-1 and independent expenditures supporting him are more than 5-to-1. A moderate with a pro-business record, Wallis has been a favorite of California Leads, which has spent $1.1 million supporting him. A PAC funded by oil and gas companies has spent about $450,000. Legislative Bipartisan Action PAC spent about the same.
Amid the flood of outside spending, the Democratic Party has backed Namvar. Since mid-September, the party and its county committees have given her committee about $1.8 million.
Two Democrats are vying to replace departing progressive Sen. María Elena Durazo in this deep blue Los Angeles-based district. Sara Hernandez, a community college trustee, faces Sarah Rascón, a planning commissioner for East Los Angeles. Grow California and California Leads are backing Hernandez to the tune of about $3 million, even though her campaign website says she will “fight for strict rules with real enforcement” on Big Tech profits. Cardrooms near this district, including Hawaiian Gardens Casino and Commerce Casino, which are in a perennial battle with tribal casinos over gaming rights, have spent about $500,000 on independent ads supporting Hernandez.
Rascón, whose top priorities include advancing environmental and social justice, has rejected corporate money. Her campaign had spent about $34,000 as of mid-September, and the Working Families Party and California Environmental Voters have spent over $100,000 on ads supporting her.
This seat, which encompasses all of Marin County and some of Sonoma County, is another target of Grow California. The group has spent about $1.8 million on ads supporting Marin County Supervisor Eric Lucan. Lucan’s positions are more moderate than those of progressive Rohnert Park Councilmember Jackie Elward, who said in a KQED questionnaire that she supports moratoriums on “all things AI,” including data centers, and that “protecting workers is the priority.”
Elward’s support comes chiefly from the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, Consumer Attorneys of California and SEIU California State Council, which have spent over $1 million to support her race.
Outside groups have spent $2.7 million to back Republican Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMattersTraditionally Democratic, this Latino-majority district along the California-Mexico border voted for Trump by 1.3 percentage points in 2024. The same year, Republican Jeff Gonzalez flipped it. Democrat Ida Obeso-Martinez, a nurse practitioner and Imperial County councilmember, is now challenging him to take it back. Oil and gas companies, a California Chamber of Commerce PAC and Legislative Bipartisan Action PAC are among the outside groups that have spent $2.7 million on mailers, polling, and TV and digital ads supporting Gonzalez and attacking Obeso-Martinez.
No outside groups have spent on behalf of Obeso-Martinez, but the California Democratic Party and its central committees recently gave Obeso-Martinez over $1.5 million for the final weeks of the race.
Incumbent Republican Josh Hoover faces Democrat Amy Slavensky, a retired teacher and superintendent, in this competitive Sacramento-area district, which shifted rightward after redistricting in 2022. Hoover’s allies, including business groups, cardrooms, and the Legislative Action PAC, have spent at least $2.3 million, chiefly on digital ads and mailers supporting him and opposing Slavensky.
No independent groups have spent to support Slavensky, but Democrats have contributed close to $1 million to Slavensky since mid-September.
Assemblymember Leticia Castillo at her desk during a floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Jan. 23, 2025. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMattersRepublican Assemblymember Leticia Castillo flipped this Latino-majority seat in Riverside County in 2024, defeating Democrat challenger Clarissa Cervantes by 596 votes. This year is a close rematch. Cervantes, a Riverside city councilmember whose sister is Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, received 54.5% of the vote compared to Castillo’s 45.5% in the June primary. In a rare move, Cervantes has outspent the incumbent Castillo in the general election. Much of her spending — close to $1 million — has been from her campaign account, compared to Castillo’s $80,000.
Legislative Action Victory PAC has spent about $650,000 on ads attacking Cervantes, and a coalition of unions spent about $530,000 supporting her. Both parties have been pouring in money to their respective candidates in the last few weeks.
Incumbent Democratic Sen. Melissa Hurtado won this district by 13 votes in 2022 even as Gov. Gavin Newsom lost it by more than 10 percentage points, making her the only Democrat to represent a state Senate district that President Donald Trump won in 2024. She faces a challenge from Republican Guillermo Gonzalez, a small business owner and former aide to Rep. David Valadao. Legislative Action PAC has spent over $1.7 million supporting Gonzalez and opposing Hurtado.
The Democratic Party and various county central committees have donated $4.8 million to Hurtado’s campaign war chest this election cycle, allowing her to spend close to $1 million between the primary and mid-September’s filing deadline.
For the record: This story was corrected to reflect that Clarissa Cervantes received 54.5% of the vote in her June primary contest against Leticia Castillo.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
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Tucked away between a massage parlor and pet wash on Fair Oaks Avenue is South Pasadena’s only new and used independent bookstore.
Why now? Outpost Books opened in September. And the name sets the tone for the just under 1,000-square-foot space.
The vibe: “I wanted it to feel obviously cozy [like] a bookstore,” said owner Nicole Novembrino. But also “like a trading post, where you just stop along the road and there's stuff everywhere.”
Tucked away between a massage spa and pet wash on Fair Oaks Avenue is South Pasadena’s only new and used independent bookstore.
Outpost Books opened in September. And the name sets the tone for the just-under-1,000-square-foot space.
“I wanted it to feel obviously cozy [like] a bookstore,” said owner Nicole Novembrino. But also “like a trading post, where you just stop along the road, and there's stuff everywhere.”
Inside, custom corral doors open to a mural of a desert sunset. Hand-drawn signs guide you to each genre. Novembrino selects the books herself, from bestsellers to history books, including those that honor Route 66 — which Fair Oaks is part of. Some of the used books come from a local retirement home. The stickers for sale are for causes she supports such as keeping national parks public. A donation box to keep wild horses and burros free sits by the cash register.
Novembrino signed the lease in August and spent weekends road-tripping across Arizona gathering art to fill out the space. The western vibe is inspired by her childhood road trips from Southern California to New Mexico, where her mom grew up.
Novembrino picked South Pasadena because the city didn’t have a bookstore, but she’s aware of how difficult it is to run a small business. Nearby, longtime children's toy store Dinosaur Farm said in a September social media post a rent hike could lead to the shop shutting down.
“That's the one thing when you own a business is making rent. I hope not to feel that fear, but it's a very real thing,” Novembrino said.
So far, so good. On opening day, she was shocked to see a long line out the door, having done little outreach and promotion beforehand. Turns out, a South Pasadena social media influencer caught wind of the shop and posted about its grand opening date.
“I've gotten thank-yous for opening,” Novembrino, who lives in El Sereno, said. “They're just excited to have a bookstore. I wasn't expecting that.”
Outpost Books is planning for its first events later this season, including kids' corral storytimes and book clubs. Novembrino is still settling into the dream of finally running a bookshop.
As for her second dream, that’s opening up a donkey rescue.
Conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center have improved but serious concerns remain, according to Rep. Robert Garcia, who represents Long Beach, and other members of Congress who visited the facility Friday.
Remaining issues: At a news conference immediately following the visit, the representatives described unsanitary conditions in the showers and kitchen areas, food that looked inedible and inadequate access to medical care.
The visit was unannounced: Garcia, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said officials at the facility kept the delegation waiting in the lobby for half an hour before starting the tour, despite a recent court order requiring the Trump administration to grant elected officials access to immigration detention facilities. “We should have been allowed to visit immediately,” Garcia said. “That is the law.”
Conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center have improved, but serious concerns remain, according to Rep. Robert Garcia, who represents Long Beach, and other members of Congress who visited the facility Friday.
At a news conference immediately following the visit, the representatives described unsanitary conditions in the showers and kitchen areas, food that looked inedible and inadequate access to medical care.
Rep. Norma Torres of Pomona, who has visited Adelanto 25 times in an oversight capacity, said the only improvement she saw this time was that the facility installed water filtration systems in response to a July court order requiring ICE to ensure people held there have access to clean drinking water 24 hours a day.
Garcia told LAist he would leave it up to the independent monitors appointed by the court to determine if the facility was fully complying with the order. The monitor overseeing overall conditions at the facility released its first report, containing 12 recommendations for improvement, earlier this month. The federal government recently purchased the facility from the GEO Group Inc. for $950 million. GEO Group is still under contract to run day-to-day operations there.
Garcia, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said officials at the facility kept the delegation waiting in the lobby for half an hour before starting the tour, despite a recent court order requiring the Trump administration to grant elected officials access to immigration detention facilities.
“We should have been allowed to visit immediately,” Garcia said. “That is the law.”
Garcia and other representatives said it appeared the facility had been cleaned just before the tour started. The representatives also said they were not allowed to speak with people detained at the facility because ICE officials said they were conducting a point-in-time count and people were confined to their cells.
The representatives said they will take recommendations back to the oversight committee and plan to continue unannounced visits to immigration detention centers, including Adelanto. Should Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in November, Garcia and other representatives said they will increase oversight of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. Attorneys representing people held at Adelanto in a class-action lawsuit have asked the court to enforce the July order requiring improvements to the facility based on the independent monitor’s first report and reports from people detained there.
