“Black Bird” debuts July 7 on Apple TV+ (Photo courtesy Apple TV+)
A new Marvel hero, some really old dragons and more, all just in time for summer.
Here are the buzziest new TV shows of the season to watch — based solely on trailers and descriptions (no spoilers here).
“Irma Vep”: now playing, HBO
Alicia Vikander has been tasked to lose her mind playing Mira, an American actress who, disillusioned with her life, moves to France to star in a remake of a French silent film classic about an underground crime organization called “The Vampires.” But as Mira gets deeper into production, she begins to lose track of what’s real and what’s script.
“Ms. Marvel”: Wednesday, Disney+
Obviously, the person best suited to save the world is a teenage girl from New Jersey. Who else? After more superhero movies than you can count about buff white guys named Chris, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a Pakistani-American high school student from Jersey City finally gets her MCU show as she figures out how to control the cosmic energy she can create from a magic bangle.
“Loot”: June 24, Apple TV+
One of the first images released of “Loot” was of Maya Rudolph and an alpaca. Do you need more? How about Rudolph as a rich woman whose life is turned upside down when her husband betrays her, leaving her with nothing but the tabloid headlines and a charity foundation that wants nothing to do with her drama? Bring on the alpaca.
“Black Bird”: July 8, Apple TV+
This doesn’t exactly sound like an odd couple comedy, but the series, based on James Keene and Hillel Levin’s true crime memoir “In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption,” sets up two unlikely partners: a police officer’s son (Taron Egerton) doing 10 years for drug dealing and a serial killer (Paul Walter Hauser). If the former can extract a confession from the latter, he gets out early. What happens behind bars doesn’t stay behind bars if you’re a narc.
“House of the Dragon”: Aug. 21, HBO
Nothing said here is going to sway your decision in any direction. If you’re still mad about the “Game of Thrones” finale, you’re not going to watch the prequel. Or maybe you are because you miss the dragons so much. If you didn’t care about “Game of Thrones” the first time, you’re not going to watch another one.
“The Patient”: Aug. 30, FX
Steve Carrell as a therapist trying to talk a serial killer (Domhnall Gleeson) out of killing again while being held hostage could be great or terrible, especially once you throw in the murderer’s mommy issues. What should put “The Patient” on the right side of that line is the creators: Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, who last made a little show called “The Americans.”
— Tribune News Service