Netflix streams the 2024 comedy “A Family Affair” starring Joey King, Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman.
King, recently seen in the Hulu Holocaust miniseries “We Were the Lucky Ones,” makes a major change of pace in this stab at “zany” physical comedy. Here she plays Zara, the exasperated personal assistant for Chris Cole (Efron), a big star and poster boy for self-involved nightmare bosses in and out of Hollywood.
Having gathered up the gumption to quit her terrible job, she discovers that Cole has had a chance encounter with her mom, Brooke (Kidman), a celebrated author with fame issues of her own. In the logic of such movies, Brooke and Chris put their age differences aside and succumb to their erotic chemistry.
Zara finds this icky. And she’s probably not alone!
As careful readers of this column know, Kidman was recently recognized by the AFI for her body of work. I’m not sure how many of her films include physical chemistry, blows to the head and other crazy pratfalls.
Help yourself.
— I have to watch, or at least sample, a lot of television. But when one of the world’s leading technology firms creates a dark vision of our technological future and markets it as children’s programming, I have to sit up and take notice.
Apple TV+ introduces the computer-generated cartoon series “WondLa,” based on a series of books by Tony DiTerlizzi and produced by Skydance Animation.
Set in some dreadful future world where the Earth has been “wounded” and needs time to “heal,” “WondLa” follows Eva (voiced by Jeanine Mason), who is being raised in a clinically sterile environment.
First seen as a babbling toddler, Eva has the wide eyes and indistinct features of CGI cartoon characters. I’m reminded of those little peg people who ride the cars that take you through the board game of “Life.”
We soon learn that Eva is raised, fed and nurtured not by her mother, but by a holographic caretaker named Muthr (Teri Hatcher), who does not walk, but hovers and whooshes about like some avatar shaped not a little unlike the cartoon mascot for Little Debbie cakes or Vermont Maid syrup.
Over the course of the pilot, we see Eva grow from diapers to teendom. All without any human contact! But that doesn’t stop her from speaking like spunky, rebellious teens in every show or cartoon ever made. Which begs the question: Has the media turned adolescence from a process into a product? I digress.
We also learn that Eva has been raised in some deeply buried pod and has been prepared to rejoin fellow humans on the planet’s surface after a series of tests and seminars conducted by another hologram, Cadmus Pryde (Alan Tudyk).
Not to give too much away, but rebel Eva short-circuits the process, exposing the Muthr ship to creepy, loud, dangerous creatures from the hellscape above.
Is this for kids? I’m no therapist, but “WondLa” gave me the creeps. And it arrives in the same week that the surgeon general suggested that social media and other technical wonders may be playing emotional havoc with America’s youth. Parents: Consider this review your warning label.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— “U.S. Olympic Trials” (NBC) features women’s gymnastics (8 p.m.) and track and field (10 p.m.).
— “Family Empire: Houston” (8 p.m., OWN, TV-PG) introduces four generations of the Bradens, a tight-knit clan with a legacy of excellence. Or is that a burden?
— “Great Performances” (9 p.m., PBS) explores the roots of Latin Jazz.
— Jamie targets fraudsters who prey upon the elderly on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
A farmer (Mel Gibson) overcomes his pacifism to join his son (Heath Ledger) and take up arms against the British in the 2000 American Revolution drama “The Patriot” (9 p.m., BBC America).
SERIES NOTES
RuPaul hosts “Lingo” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PB) … “WWE Friday Night SmackDown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Jeopardy! Masters” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … A biker gang steals a cache of armor-piercing bullets and intends to use it on “S.W.A.T.” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC).
LATE NIGHT
Anya Taylor-Joy and Douglas Emhoff are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Chris Pratt, Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson and Red Clay Strays on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC).
David Ortiz and John Early visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts Felipe Esparza, Morgan Murphy and Marcella Arguello on “After Midnight” (12:37 a.m., CBS).
