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The Review Geek
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Government Cheese Episode 8 Preview: Release Date, Time & Where To Watch
Government Cheese Government Cheese is a surrealist family comedy set in 1969, San Fernando Valley. At the center of this are the Chambers, a quirky family pursuing lofty and seemingly impossible dreams. When Hampton Chambers is released from prison, his long-awaited family reunion doesn't go quite as he'd planned. During his absence, Hampton's wife, Astoria, and sons, Einstein and Harrison, have formed an unconventional family unit, and Hampton's return spins their world into chaos. If you've been following this one over the weeks, you may be curious to find out when the next episode is releasing. Well, wonder no more! Here is everything you need to know about Government Cheese episode 8, including its release date, time and where you can watch this. Where Can I Watch Government Cheese? Government Cheese is available to stream on AppleTV+. This is an exclusive original series, meaning this is the only place you're going to be able to watch this show. Government Cheese Episode 8 Release Date Government Cheese Episode 8 will release on Wednesday 14th May at approximately 12am (ET)/(PT) and 5am (GMT). Of course, it's really dependent on how quickly Apple upload new episodes. Expect this to be pretty close to the release time though. Government Cheese is also available with subtitles from its release, with the chapters scheduled to clock in at around 30minutes long. How Many Episodes Will Government Cheese Season 1 Have? Season 1 of Government Cheese is scheduled for 10 episodes, so we've got 2 more episodes to go after this one. Expect the story to continue developing as this satirical look into Hampton's life continues. Is There A Trailer For Government Cheese? There is indeed! You can find a trailer for Government Cheese below: What do you hope to see as the series progresses? What's been your favourite moment of Government Cheese so far? Let us know in the comments below!
Gulf Weekly
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Weekly
Against the odds
THE first four episodes of historical surrealist comedy drama Government Cheese are out now on Apple TV+, and will be followed by a weekly release until May 28. Set in 1969, the show revolves around Hampton Chambers (David Oyelowo), a convicted burglar who returns to his Los Angeles home after being released from prison. As he reunites with his family, Hampton tries to start over by inventing the 'Bit Magician', a self-sharpening power drill. However, there are complications to navigate - the unconventional structure of his family formed in his absence, his past, encounters with dangerous figures, and even divine intervention. Actor David revealed in an interview that he felt drawn to portray Hampton due to the character being incredibly flawed yet relatable. 'I think all of us can understand and relate to the idea of wanting to be better, but constantly failing at doing that,' he said.
New York Times
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Government Cheese' Review: Moving on Up, to the Surreal Side
Hampton Chambers, the would-be patriarch played by David Oyelowo in the Apple TV+ series 'Government Cheese,' bears some resemblance to a classic sitcom dad. He has moved on up, finding a home in a tidy San Fernando Valley suburb for his wife and two sons and striving to keep them there. He is obsessed with taking family photos. He cajoles his rebellious younger son into a weekend fishing trip at a nearby lake, with predictably comic results. But what distinguishes Hampton, and 'Government Cheese,' are the ways in which he departs from the stereotype. The fishing trip is a cover for a nighttime burglary. The photos are exculpatory evidence. He owes a debt to a local criminal clan of seven thuggish French Canadian brothers. His George Jefferson cockiness is cracked by fissures of guilt, fear and regret; he pleads with Yahweh for forgiveness. That might make Hampton sound like a Walter White ('Breaking Bad') or a Marty Byrde ('Ozark'), losing his way under pressure. But 'Government Cheese,' which premiered on Tuesday with three of its 10 episodes, is indeed a comedy, if a barbed and mysterious one; it straddles a border between the pioneering Black sitcoms of the 1970s (it's set in 1969) and the fable-like dramedies of the streaming era, particularly 'Lodge 49,' a show it strongly evokes. (There is also some 'Fargo' in it, at the darker end.) 'Absurdism' and 'surrealism' are the words Apple TV+ has applied most liberally in the show's publicity materials. American comedy very rarely commits to these qualities, though. What 'Government Cheese' really offers is something softer and more common: a mildly sardonic, artfully presented magical realism. Hampton is in prison for petty fraud when the show starts, about to be paroled. He comes home to find that his family has been hijacked by the '60s. One son, Einstein (Evan Ellison), is a soft-spoken prodigy who sees his future in pole vaulting; the other, Harrison (Jahi Di'Allo Winston), is a budding radical who wears a Billy Jack hat and identifies with the Chumash people. Hampton's wife, Astoria (Simone Missick), has a job and a man on the side, and sees her husband's return as a threat to her tentative freedoms. Hampton's hopes of proving himself and keeping his family together are pinned to a gizmo he invented in the prison machine shop, a self-sharpening drill. (It isn't clear whether it actually works.) In his way are the comically violent Prévost brothers, as well as the everyday difficulties of being out of place, as an ex-con and a Black man, in both suburban Los Angeles and the aerospace industry. That's why he reluctantly puts the drill to use as a safecracking tool, in league with his old friend Bootsy (a jovial Bokeem Woodbine). It is the show's re-creation of this time and place in which Hampton feels himself falling behind that holds viewers' interest. Paul Hunter, a prolific director of music videos who created the show with Aeysha Carr, grew up in the Valley, and the Southern California ambience is heady: spirituality as a self-improvement program; the rough-and-tumble aerospace plants; nearby orange groves and casual water theft. Looming in the background of many shots are the Chatsworth rock formations, a silent reminder that in the year the show is set, the Manson family's base of operations was just up the road. Hunter and Jim Gavin, the creator of the 2018-19 'Lodge 49,' both used checkered family histories in Southern California as inspiration for distinctive, highly personal series. Their shows share a fable-like approach, perhaps a way of rendering the burnishing glow of memory; a fanciful episode of the new show set in an Elks Lodge even feels like a homage. 'Government Cheese' doesn't have the consistency of tone, the melancholy eccentricity that 'Lodge 49' had; its impulse is more satirical, less curatorial. But characters vanish and animals assume mythic dimensions. Hampton, in search of atonement, finds himself in a Jonah-like situation that is definitely not naturalistic. (Surplus government cheese does not make an appearance in any overt way. The title appears to be emblematic of the period, and perhaps of the idea of playing the system to get by.) The palpable intelligence that Oyelowo brings to his roles is a good fit for Hampton, whose most salient attribute is his scrambling ingenuity. (That, and the self-centeredness he claims to be trying to overcome.) If Hampton ends up feeling a little blank, it may be because Oyelowo has more technique than pure magnetism, but it also may be because the show doesn't seem sure yet about its attitude toward its protagonist and the possibility of his redemption in seasons to come. There is plenty of charisma on offer, though, from Ellison, Winston and particularly the wryly self-assured Missick (of 'All Rise') as Hampton's loving but impatient family. We may wonder where he's going, but they're not waiting around for him to figure it out.
The Guardian
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Government Cheese review – David Oyelowo's new drama is utterly meaningless
In the blurb promoting Government Cheese, Apple TV+ describes it as 'surrealist'. It isn't, but it does have plenty of what is becoming the streamer's signature style. Is your dramedy quirky, kooky and kind of cartoony? Is it set mid-century in the US, away from the big cities, where humble but smarter-than-average folk arch deadpan eyebrows at unusual events? Yes? You've got a full-season commission! Don't worry about an engaging premise or a coherent narrative – we just want those zany indie vibes. We are in the San Fernando valley, California, 1969. After a riot breaks out during a flood, a burglar and petty fraudster, Hampton Chambers (David Oyelowo), is released from prison, strolling back into his home town of Chatsworth in his one sharp suit, with the rolling, bouncing gait of a born huckster who has fatally high self-esteem. While incarcerated, he has invented a self-sharpening drill, the proceeds from which he hopes will aid him as he reconnects with his family and goes straight. But his neglected wife and sons are frosty and he needs to earn money faster than his supposed wonder tool can make it, so a return to criminality beckons – bringing with it all the lying and cheating that alienated his loved ones in the first place. Government Cheese looks beautiful: the cars, the dresses, the rotary telephones and chunky appliances, the hairstyles, the shoes and the panelled interiors. All are sumptuous, whipping us back to a time when objects were reassuringly weighty, the air was clear and hope for the future came in quarter-gallon cups. If you turn the sound off, the co-creator Paul Hunter, known for music videos and adverts, has nailed it. But, a little like Apple TV+ goofballs such as The Big Door Prize, Physical, Palm Royale and Hello Tomorrow!, Government Cheese lacks the storytelling substance to go with the attractive surfaces. It's not even trying to go anywhere with purpose: it would rather just mosey eccentrically. There is a touch of Wes Anderson, a dollop of I'm a Virgo's Boots Riley and a whisper of the Coen brothers in the way characters greet reality with an angular insouciance. Hampton's wife, Astoria (Simone Missick), has been left to run the household alone and has been the victim of some of her husband's deceptions, but instead of receiving him with anger, she gives him a bemused, robotic smirk and pours herself another cocktail, mixed roughly in the glass. Their elder son, Harrison (Jahi Di'Allo Winston), is hostile, but his resentment is a caricature of late-teen grumpiness; in any case, he is more concerned with obtaining an eagle feather to service his interest in the local Indigenous Americans. Then there is Hampton's other son, Einstein (Evan Ellison), who greets his father's return with the cheerful news that he has turned down offers to study at Harvard and MIT because he is dedicating himself to pole vaulting, which he pursues on the front lawn. 'I'm going to break the world record!' he says, before once again arcing miles under the bar. Toss in a gang of bullying French-Canadian brothers who are intimidating in a left-field sort of way; Sunita Mani (Arthie from Glow) as a wise stranger who meets Hampton when she is stuck in a hatch (for several minutes, she is just a pair of legs); an unreliable partner in crime who convinces Hampton to help him rob a synagogue; and the fact that the town's primary employer is Rocketcorp, a manufacturer of gleaming chrome gadgets for the space race, and you have a giant pile of random whimsy. The cast do nothing wrong, particularly Oyelowo. As the captain of this paper ship, he is exceptional, often telling the whole story – such as it is – with his facial expressions in closeup. He embodies the restless optimism of a man who refuses to accept the hand he has been dealt, instead using every situation as inspiration for a new scheme, which is guaranteed to be more outlandishly unwise than the last one. But Oyelowo can't use his formidable skills to dig for a deeper meaning: with the drama always preferring a weird coincidence or exotic digression to a meaningful interaction between characters, there isn't anything for him to find. The title refers to a processed cheese distributed by the US government since the second world war to feed poor people and which is mentioned in a line of dialogue. As she observes Hampton tinkering confidently with crude metalwork in the garage, Astoria recalls that he inherited his resourcefulness from his mother, who 'made the best sandwiches out of nothing but government cheese and white bread'. The show could have benefited from a bit of old Mrs Chambers's simple approach – as it is, it's all garnish and no food. Government Cheese is on Apple TV+
