‘How We Roll,’ With Pete Holmes, Is a Bowling Comedy Without Bowling or Comedy: TV Review

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic“I needed to hear the roar of the crowd one more time — and I heard it.”That’s how Magic Johnson describes his 1991 appearance on Arsenio Hall’s talk show in the new documentary “They Call Me Magic.” It was a key moment in Johnson’s public life, coming just after the basketball star’s announcement that he had contracted HIV. And it’s slightly telling that what Johnson recalls is not any particular thing he said but the applause of the audience for whom he was putting on a show.Johnson, throughout both his athletic and business careers, is as close to an entertainer as an athlete gets.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThere’s an expression that Bill Hader lets play across his face at the end of the first episode of “Barry’s” new season. Pointing a gun at one of the show’s major characters, Barry orders them to comply with a plan he’s just coming up with on the fly; a grin flickers around his mouth, then takes root, as his eyes glimmer with self-belief far too serene to be disrupted by the knowledge that what he’s doing is madness.HBO has requested that reviewers withhold key plot details of the next installment of “Barry,” TV’s darkest comedy or its funniest drama.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThe set of the new Broadway production of “American Buffalo” at Circle in the Square is choked with the unwanted artifacts of recent history. The show’s two acts take place in a junk shop glutted with relics, one whose barest gestures toward organization are just begging to be undone; the place is already sliding into disorder, so why not finish the job?It’s fitting in more ways than this production may anticipate.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThere’s a brutally silly device at work in “Anatomy of a Scandal,” Netflix’s new London-set limited series. At key moments, often the end of an episode, one character or another will become suddenly destablized, a process depicted by them flying backwards in the air or falling down.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticIn the early 2000s, “The Brothers Garcia” was a hit on Nickelodeon; that show depicted a loving Latino family in San Antonio, and was anchored by the dynamic between squabbling brothers.In keeping with the current vogue for reviving recognizable IP on a roughly two-decade cycle, six of that show’s principal cast members are back for a sequel series on HBO Max. “The Brothers Garcia” is created (as was its Nick ancestor) by Jeff Valdez, and depicts an extended family enjoying an extended-stay vacation on a Mexican beach.Notionally, “The Garcias” is pitched at a broad audience: Its humor is broad, its plotlines are heartfelt.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticIn the second episode of “The Kardashians,” Hulu’s new reality show featuring the widely-documented Calabasas, Calif. family, there is a moment of reflection.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterTahj Mowry will star in the upcoming Disney Plus series “The Muppets Mayhem,” Variety has learned exclusively.Mowry joins previously announced cast member Lilly Singh in the series, which was first announced in March. The live-action show follows The Electric Mayhem Band — consisting of Dr. Teeth on vocals and keyboards, Animal on drums, Floyd Pepper on vocals and bass, Janice on vocals and lead guitar, Zoot on saxophone, and Lips on trumpet — as they record their first album ever.Mowry will star as Gary “Moog” Moogowski.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic“Power is a dangerous, delicate creature,” Kiernan Shipka’s character tells us in voice-over as she zips up her dress. “Intoxicating.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticOver cigarettes in a Tokyo nightclub, a newbie crime reporter eager to make a mark is speaking to his source. Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort), an American who’s become fluent in Japanese to work as a journalist far from home, uses the language to ask his source Jin Miyamoto (Hideaki Itō) whether the city of Tokyo has officially recorded murder cases at all. Miyamoto, a corrupt cop, is briefly caught up in all the flashes of distraction the nightclub has to offer — bright lights, music, liquor on order and young women ambiently available — before explaining the situation to this outsider.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic“Better Call Saul” is, at the start of its two-part final season, still twin shows — a riveting one and one that, even while well-made, can feel like yesterday’s news. The good news for viewers who are interested in the storyline about Jimmy McGill’s slippage into the amoral Saul Goodman, and his dragging of Kim Wexler with him, is that that half of the series is as strong as ever.

On Thursday Young Sheldon, and uber-producer Chuck Lorre, celebrated a major milestone with the series 100th episode. The latest episode of the Big Bang spinoff did win the night’s largest audience, but victory would have tasted even sweeter if the comedy wasn’t in a four-way demo rating tie with three other titles.

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.

Katie Lowes, “Scandal”), his preteen son Sam (Mason Wells), his mom Helen (Julie White) and his mentor, Archie (Chi McBride).“I read [the script] with my wife and we were happy that the wife wasn’t a nagging sitcom cliché. And I liked that my son, Sam wants to be a tap dancer, and my character Tom – who’s not from that [arts] world – doesn’t make fun of him,” said Holmes.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticOf all this season’s limited series based on high-profile incidents of chicanery, “The Dropout” stands out. More than Showtime’s Uber show, Apple’s WeWork show, or Netflix’s Anna Delvey show, Hulu’s look at the life and career of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes feels as though it has a certain point-of-view on its subject.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticLast year, Marvel made a serious run at using streaming TV to do something qualitatively different than what it does on the big screen. With “WandaVision,” the first of its series to stream on Disney Plus, the studio used familiar characters to animate a story that, in its early going, was substantially more pliable and strange than what they were willing to attempt in a heavily leveraged movie.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic“Plaza Suite” practically demands to be played straight.Neil Simon’s look at three romantic couples facing down the passage of time is sharp and knowing, but it is, crucially, earnest. Each character gives direct and explicit voice to what’s on their mind; relationship dynamics are explored with an openness of heart that isn’t remotely trying to be cool or distanced.

“The Lost City,” the new “Romancing the Stone”-ish adventure starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, perhaps more than any other – how much is Brad Pitt in this thing?Pitt’s casting was announced in the spring of 2021 and initially reported as merely a cameo. But when the first trailers for “The Lost City,” which follows a romance novelist (Bullock) who is kidnapped by an unscrupulous tycoon (Daniel Radcliffe) and teams up with her cover model (Tatum) to uncover a real treasure, were released, Pitt was front and center.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThere’s a beautifully drawn moment in the fourth episode of “Pachinko,” Apple TV Plus’ new cross-generational epic, in which a young woman (Minha Kim) is served white rice as a final meal in Korea before setting out to the unknown. It’s moving on its merits — this character, Sunja, has already been through a great deal, and a meal lovingly prepared by her mother (Inji Jeong) has a certain symbolic weight all its own.