Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV.
Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. This week, Marvel’s Hulu series “Runaways” premieres, as does the series adaptation of Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It.”
“Runaways,” Hulu, Tuesday (CRITICS’ PICK)
In its opening episodes, “Marvel’s Runaways” sketches out its story cleanly and with slick energy. The other three episodes sent for review are more or less efficient as well. But it’s perhaps appropriate that a drama about teens displays something of an identity crisis.“Runaways” is based on a Marvel comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, and Vaughan in particular has an extraordinary ability to make you care about the characters in his graphic novels, even when the stories drag or when the people in them act like blockheads. And when “The O.C.” was firing on all cylinders in its early seasons, Josh Schwartz, who adapted “Runaways” with fellow executive producer Stephanie Savage, imbued the self-aware soap with emotional dilemmas and personal crises worth following, all while keeping the well-appointed proceedings moving at a brisk clip. “Runaways’” energy level isn’t a problem, at least in the opening installments. But as the season heads into its middle section, meaningful clues about what many of the core characters are actually doing are few and far between.
“Godless,” Netflix, Wednesday
Steven Soderbergh executive produces this new period drama. Notorious criminal Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels) and his gang of outlaws are on a mission of revenge against Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), a son-like protégé who betrayed the brotherhood. While on the run, Roy seeks refuge with hardened widower Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery), an outcast herself, in a worn-down, isolated mining town of La Belle, NM — governed mainly by women. When word reaches La Belle that Griffin is headed their way, the town bands together to defend against the murderous gang in a lawless western frontier.
“She’s Gotta Have It,” Netflix, Thursday
The 10-episode series is a contemporary update of Spike Lee’s debut independent film. It centers on Nola Darling (DeWanda Wise), a Brooklyn-based artist in her late twenties struggling to define herself and divide her time amongst her friends, her job, and her three lovers: the cultured model Greer Childs (Cleo Anthony); protective investment banker Jamie Overstreet (Lyriq Bent); and Da Original B-Boy Sneakerhead Mars Blackmon (Anthony Ramos). Lee directed all 10 episodes of the series, marking his first foray into series television.
“Miss Universe Pageant,” Fox, Sunday, 7 p.m.
Nearly 100 women from across the globe will travel to compete for the opportunity of becoming the next Miss Universe. Iris Mittenaere from France will crown her successor at the conclusion of the live three-hour event. Five-time Emmy Award winner Steve Harvey returns to the Miss Universe stage, marking the third time that he has hosted the international competition.
