Latest news with #DennisTafoya
CNET
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
The 10 Best Apple TV Plus Shows You're Probably Not Watching
Apple TV Plus feels like it has operated under the radar for a while now. Yes, the streamer has hits like Severance, Ted Lasso, and Rogen's Emmy-nominated comedy The Studio but most of its library titles have a habit of lurking in the shadows. Considering the platform's superb storytelling quality, the lack of knowledge of these shows is disconcerting. Before you ask, I already put together a roundup of the streamer's epic sci-fi offerings, which you should look at. So don't expect those titles to be found here. Instead, I have filtered through Apple TV Plus' content library to find the best TV series you probably haven't watched yet. The 10 shows featured below have won Emmys and are led by top-notch talent. These dramas, comedies and thrillers are well-written and push the envelope in some way. You want something thought-provoking, heart-wrenching or knee-slapping? You've come to the right place. Read more: Apple TV Plus Review: Small Library but the Quality Is Top Notch Apple TV Plus Dope Thief Dope Thief is inspired by Dennis Tafoya's 2009 novel and follows friends Ray and Manny, who decide to impersonate DEA agents so they can steal from drug dealers. Things go sideways when their tiny crime unveils a massive drug operation. Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura lead the series, ensuring this enthralling drama is led by top-tier talent. Apple TV Plus Your Friends & Neighbors Jon Hamm plays defamed hedge fund manager Andrew "Coop" Cooper in this dark comedy, who decides to try home invasions as a means of generating income. The twist on that twist? He's robbing his wealthy neighbors. What he doesn't expect through all this thievery is the dark secrets he uncovers about the members of this upper-crust community. Apple TV Plus Black Bird Black Bird is inspired by the true story of Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton), a man who made a deal with the FBI to go undercover in a maximum-security prison to shorten his sentence. I forgot to mention, this is a place that houses the criminally insane and his mission is to make friends with Larry Hall, a suspected serial killer, so he can discover information about where the bodies are buried. That is, if he can get a confession in the first place. Paul Walter Hauser gives a career-best performance as Hall. Apple TV Plus Pachinko Pachinko is a sweeping drama that follows multiple generations of a Korean family from the early 1900s through the 1980s. Seriously, it's hard to sum up how beautiful and complex the storytelling is in this series in a few sentences. I'll just say the performances, cinematography and conflicts featured here are absolutely fabulous. It's probably the best show on this entire list, if I am being honest. Apple TV Plus Shrinking Jason Segel, Harrison Ford and Jessica Williams star in this dramedy series about a broken therapist who strives to piece his life and family back together after a heartbreaking loss. There's an intriguing balance found when Jimmy (Segel) breaks from professional norms to help his clients heal while seeking to do the same for himself. It's sad, hilarious, poignant and profound. To me, this is what mental health stories on TV should look like. Apple TV Plus Bad Monkey When you center a murder mystery in Florida, you have to expect things to get weird. And they do just that in Bad Monkey. It's a quirky sort of drama that stars Vince Vaughn as Andrew Yancy, a detective-turned-restaurant inspector, who gets sucked into a murder case after fishing a severed arm out of the ocean. Bill Lawrence (of Ted Lasso, Scrubs and Shrinking fame) created the dark comedy, which is inspired by the book by Carl Hiaasen. Apple TV Plus Presumed Innocent Presumed Innocent, based on the novel by Scott Turow, hails from executive producer David E. Kelley and Stars Jake Gyllenhaal as smarmy lawyer Rusty Sabich. Unlike the 1987 movie starring Harrison Ford, this series delves way deeper into the multi-layered scandal that put Rusty in handcuffs. The exploration of every character, who all seem awful in some way, adds to a morally corrupt narrative that makes this a riveting, albeit sometimes frustrating, watch. Apple TV Plus Lessons in Chemistry Here we have yet another book adaptation to add to this list, and, thankfully, Lessons in Chemistry is a feel-good delight. Inspired by Bonnie Garmus' book of the same name, the series follows a chemist named Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson) who finds herself taking a job as host of a cooking show. Being a story that takes place in the '50s, it shouldn't be a surprise that Zott faces loads of sexism in the workplace. She perseveres, though, and brings a quirky scientific element to her Julia Childs-like role, making this period piece a fun show to dig into. Apple TV Plus Platonic I didn't know what to expect when I clicked play on Platonic. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne have co-starred in other projects together, but their delightfully oddball dynamic in this one stands out. The story follows two long-time friends who reconnect in their 40s only to find that, even though they live very different lives, they share common midlife struggles of trying to figure out where they fit in this rapidly changing world. It's also nice to see a non-romantic exploration of a friendship between a man and a woman. Contrary to what When Harry Met Sally said, it is possible.
South China Morning Post
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Dope Thief author on why Apple TV+'s adaptation had to be shot in ‘magnetic' Philadelphia
Author Dennis Tafoya remembers his time working in accident and emergency in a hospital in Doylestown, Philadelphia, in the 1980s. Advertisement One night, a call came in about a fire at a farmhouse-turned-meth lab, but when doctors attempted to help, the burn victim refused care and eventually died. 'It got me thinking about who ends up in a burning meth lab in the middle of the night,' said Tafoya in a recent call with Philadelphia newspaper The Inquirer. That incident was the seed of the idea that, decades later, became Tafoya's 2009 novel Dope Thief. It has since been adapted into a series of the same name on Apple TV+, written, directed, and executive produced by Peter Craig – who co-wrote the screenplay for 2010 crime thriller The Town – and executive produced by legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott Scott also directed the pilot, which introduces the two best friends-protagonists, Ray ( Brian Tyree Henry ) and Manny (Wagner Moura), who pose as DEA drug enforcement agents to steal money from small-time drug dealers.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dope Thief Trailer: Brian Tyree Henry Is Hunted by a Dangerous Drug Ring — Watch
A pair of small-time crooks is about to mess with the wrong crew. Based on Dennis Tafoya's book of the same name, the eight-episode crime drama Dope Thief (which debuts on Apple TV+ with its first two episodes on Friday, March 14, followed by new episodes every Friday through April 25) follows long-time Philly friends and delinquents (Atlanta's Brian Tyree Henry and Narcos' Wagner Moura) who pose as DEA agents to rob an unknown house in the countryside. But their small-time grift becomes a life-and-death enterprise, as they unwittingly reveal and unravel the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern Seaboard. More from TVLine A New MacKenzie Baby in Outlander's Final Season? Sophie Skelton Weighs In - Watch All Seasons of The Chosen to Exclusively Stream on Prime Video - Season 5 Set for June Premiere Severance Stars Set the Table for Irving's Ham Dinner With Burt and His Husband: 'There's a Little Tension!' In the trailer embedded below, we get our first glimpse of Ray and Manny's shady operation, which includes them visiting 'the wrong house' where they lift from a murderous drug operation. The friends' actions then put everyone they love in danger, as the dealers track down the duo, who are now fugitives running for their lives. Insert explosions, car wrecks, gunfire and a whole lotta action-packed drama. In addition to Henry and Moura, the ensemble cast includes Marin Ireland (Justified: City Primeval), Kate Mulgrew (Orange Is the New Black), Nesta Cooper (See), Amir Arison (The Blacklist), Dustin Nguyen (21 Jump Street) and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction). The series was created and executive produced by Peter Craig (Top Gun: Maverick). Ridley Scott directs the premiere and is also on board as an EP. Henry also executive-produces. Will you be watching when it drops in March? See some photos below, then let us know your thoughts by dropping some comments.
