Issue 25: History Channel got Hitler's DNA and Ted Lasso is back

The week nothing ended

The History Channel is airing a documentary this Sunday called Hitler's DNA. That is the pitch. They got the DNA. They ran the tests. They made a movie about it. In a single week that also gave us Ted Lasso Season 4 — a show that ended, on purpose, definitively, three years ago because everyone involved said out loud that the story was told — and Jeff Zucker playing himself in an A24 film because, per Zucker in Variety, "Jacob Elordi wasn't available," you have to admire the sheer confidence of American entertainment in 2026. Nothing ends. Nothing is off limits. Somebody in a Burbank office pitched Hitler's DNA and everyone in the room nodded. Put it on after Pawn Stars. We're through the looking glass and the looking glass is a Roku screensaver.

Reacher, Season 4 (Prime Video)

Alan Ritchson continues his one-man campaign to prove that if you cast a fridge with eyebrows and let him snap forearms for eight episodes, you don't need much else. Reacher is back and it is exactly what it was: guys underestimate him, he crushes their femurs, a woman is impressed, repeat. It works because Ritchson commits like he's playing Hamlet and Nick Santora's room understands the assignment. Don't complicate the formula. Find a new small town, find some corruption, demolish. Eight-ish hours, released weekly through September. Bail if you don't like him by the end of episode two, but you will.

✅ WORTH IT

Silo, Season 3 finale (Apple TV+)

Apple dropped the season 3 finale this week and Reddit is losing its mind about who Troy is and what happened to Daniel. Season 3 tightened up nicely after a wobbly middle stretch, and Rebecca Ferguson is doing the work of three actors while Common broods in silhouette. This is the sci-fi show Apple spent Ferrari money on and then, per Decider, is now making fans beg for a Season 4 renewal. Classic Apple. Two hundred million on the pilot, then acts like renewing it is a favor. Start with Season 1 if you're new; it's a slow build but the payoff is real.

✅ WORTH IT

Ted Lasso, Season 4 (Apple TV+)

Yes. It is back. No, nobody asked. Sudeikis and the writers publicly said the story was told. Then Apple backed up a Brinks truck and now here we are with a Season 4 premiere titled "Riches of Embarrassment," which, respect to whoever named that episode. Honest work. The show that made you cry about a shortbread cookie is now the show that exists because a streaming service needs Q3 subscriber retention. I'll watch it. I have Roy Kent tattooed on my heart. But if you spent three years telling everyone the show landed the plane, and now the plane is doing donuts on the tarmac, don't act surprised when the passengers look nervous.

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The Gentlemen, Season 2 (Netflix)

Guy Ritchie's aristocrats-run-a-weed-empire show is back and Netflix is calling it "better than ever." Composer Christopher Benstead says Ritchie asked for a moodier score because the body count is up. What that means in practice: Theo James looks handsome and mildly confused in a series of tailored coats while Kaya Scodelario does 90 percent of the acting. Ritchie has been making the same movie since 1998 and God bless him for it. Eight episodes. Fine weekend fare if you can tolerate the entire cast pronouncing "governor" as "guv'nor."

✅ WORTH IT

Mousetrap (Netflix)

Korean thriller. Reclusive writer wakes up to find his identity stolen and has to team with a loan shark to get his life back from a guy called The Rat. All ten episodes dropped at once. Ryu Jun-yeol and Sul Kyung-gu are both excellent, which is the whole ballgame. Netflix keeps quietly investing in Korean thrillers because they cost a third of a Marvel spinoff and are twice as good, and eventually American producers are going to figure out that maybe the problem isn't the audience.

✅ WORTH IT

Movies, quick

The Runner (Prime): Gal Gadot gets a phone call on her morning jog and has to keep running for 86 minutes or her kid dies. Kevin Macdonald directs so it will at least look competent while it wastes you. 🛋️ BACKGROUND TV

Mayday (Apple TV+): Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh doing a Cold War action-comedy with Maria Bakalova. Reynolds does Reynolds. Branagh does a Russian accent he workshopped in the mirror. Perfectly fine plane movie. 🛋️ BACKGROUND TV

The Secret Woman (Netflix): Danish amnesia thriller. If you already burned through The Perfect Couple and need another one. 🐍 SLOP

Pick of the Week

Reacher, Season 4 on Prime Video. It won't change your life. It'll break some wrists and let you eat a burrito on the couch. Sometimes that's the whole deal.

One more thing

Programming note: the History Channel is airing Hitler's DNA on Sunday. Ted Lasso is back. Jeff Zucker is in an A24 movie. HBO recast Ginny Weasley. Somewhere in Prague, cameras are rolling on a Dan Brown TV show starring Morgan Spector as Robert Langdon. If aliens land next week and demand a full accounting of what we've been doing down here, I don't know what any of us are going to say.