The A.V. Club’s quick-and-dirty guide to Peacock

Indeed it is. But it’s streaming as envisioned by people who still have a foot in the linear-TV world, and as much as consumers have embraced the freedom of on-demand viewing, sometimes you just want to flip on the tube and have somebody else determine what shows up on the screen. Pluto TV already does this, and now Peacock does, too, offering 24-hour feeds devoted to the news (from Today as well as the U.K.’s Sky), individual series (SNL Vault, Unsolved Mysteries), genre (the reality-competition channel In It To Win It), and bygone eras (’80s Mixtape). It’s also the one place you’ll find until it leaves Netflix in 2021: Shorts presents the daily life of an American paper company circa the mid-2000s and early 2010s in what The A.V. Club, and only The A.V. Club, is terming “tiny nibbles”—or “tinis,” for short. (Any well-heeled investors and/or international money-laundering outfits looking to break into the streaming sphere are encouraged to contact The A.V. Club to discuss the terms of purchasing this new, exciting, and completely sensical nomenclature.)

On more devices than just your phone. (Gotcha again, Quibi. —this is a reference Peacock subscribers will understand in a few months.)According to a pre-launch press release, Peacock is currently available on:Apple devices including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HDGoogle platforms and devices including Android, Android TV devices, Chromecast and Chromecast built-in devicesMicrosoft’s Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox One S and Xbox One XVIZIO SmartCast TVsLG Smart TVsPlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro users will have access to Peacock beginning the week of July 20. As is the case with HBO Max, ongoing negotiations are keeping Peacock off of Amazon and Roku devices for the time being— on where those discussions stood the day before the Peacock launch.

While COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown limited the number of new and original series Peacock is premiering with, a handful of international acquisitions and originals are currently on offer. Here’s The A.V. Club’s takes on a few of them:It’s been nearly three years since Steve Franks and his co-writer James Roday Rodriguez () kicked off their ersatz continuation series with , a joyful affair that reunited the cast and made a great addition to the holiday movie canon. But Lassie Come Home doesn’t spend much time catching us up on the interim adventures of Shawn Spencer (Rodriguez), Burton “Gus” Guster (Dulé Hill), Juliet O’Hara (Maggie Lawson), and of course, Carlton Lassiter (). In true Psych fashion, after a mysterious opening, the movie throws an only slightly less enthusiastic Shawn and Gus right into their next case, which centers on one of their own. []This Brave New World never quite emerges from its source material’s long shadow, which includes the penumbra of spiritual successors (or kin) like  and . But the show’s superb cast certainly gives it all they’ve got as they navigate David Lee’s polished yet vaguely unnerving production design. New London was built on the ruins of the old one following some climate-related catastrophe, not that the Alphas who perch ever more precariously atop the city’s social hierarchy ever notice. It’s not their place to—an Alpha-Plus like Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd) is responsible for the “social body,” which mostly means they’re supposed to reap all the benefits of being genetically engineered to be the best: the best-looking, the best positioned. []Created and written by Nick Mohammed, a very funny gentleman whose profile is decidedly higher in the U.K. (though Americans might possibly recognize him from , , or ), Intelligence takes place within the U.K.’s Government Communications Headquarters, where agents do battle against international cyber criminals. They’re a socially awkward bunch at best, as one might expect from folks who are rarely required to leave the confines of their computer desks: Tuva (Gana Bayarsaikhan) is tall, intense, and oozes a slightly threatening sexuality; Mary (Jane Stanness) lives with her mom, dresses frumpily, and freely admits that she looks older than she is; and Joseph (played by Mohammed) has a habit of blurting things out before contemplating either their accuracy or appropriateness. Their boss, Christine (Sylvestra Le Touzel), tolerates their eccentricities because they have a history of getting the job done, but when they’re abruptly joined on their team by Jerry Bernstein (David Schwimmer), a fiery, arrogant NSA agent, it’s like throwing a grenade into their midst, blowing any sense of order to smithereens. []The Capture, already a popular British thriller, arrives this month on Peacock, positively brimming with action. The series from creator Ben Chanan tackles pertinent themes including excessive surveillance, evidence manipulation, fake news, and corruption within the government, police, and justice system. Season one is a fascinating exploration of the soaring dependency on technology to solve crimes, but it also offers a terrifying perspective on how the same tools can be maneuvered to present, per the phrase made popular by a senior White House aide, “alternate facts.” While the show starts off strong and conjures up twisty cliffhanger endings, it falters in the end due to the convoluted plot. However, with only six episodes, The Capture is just gripping enough to binge in one sitting. []

The Peacock library reaches beyond the various holdings of NBCUniversal, with series from all four other broadcast networks and features from Paramount, Warner Bros., and Focus Features. (With the back catalogs of Yellowstone and Ray Donovan, it’s fair to say Peacock is making a hard play for the dad demographic.) In addition to the titles listed below, news from NBC and Telemundo, and live sports including 175 Premier League soccer matches will be available in the coming months.The Bourne Identity The Bourne Supremacy The Bourne Ultimatum Jurassic ParkThe Lost World Jurassic Park III Tully Phantom Thread The Interpreter American Psycho The Matrix The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Revolutions The Blair Witch Project The Mummy Joe Fletch Fletch Lives The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury Fear Psycho (1960)Do the Right Thing Howard The Duck Billy Elliot The Birds Willie Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas The Last House On The Left I Am Ali In The Name Of The Father The HitcherLaw Abiding Citizen The Sting What Dreams May Come Fried Green Tomatoes One True Thing Gosford Park Dracula Dragnet30 Rock Parks And Recreation CheersFrasierSaturday Night Live Saved By The Bell Punky Brewster Johnny Carson (The Carol Burnett Show Real Husbands Of Hollywood Everybody Hates Chris Friday Night Lights Downton Abbey Parenthood Monk Heroes Psych The Game Suits Sacred Lies Royal Pains Battlestar Galactica Columbo Hunter The Rockford Files Dateline 21 Jump Street Highlander Leave It To Beaver The Munsters Murder She WroteBelow Deck Southern Charm Chrisley Knows Best Botched Flipping Out Million Dollar Listing New York Pawn Stars Storage Wars Real Housewives Of Dallas Jay Leno’s Garage Shahs of Sunset Undercover BossTop Chef Masters Hell’s Kitchen Hollywood Game Night American Ninja Warrior Jr.Kong The Animated Series Pac-Man And The Ghostly Adventures Fievel’s American Tails Woody WoodpeckerBetty En NY I Love Jenni Reina De Corazones The Riveras Preso No. 1 Caso Cerrado El Baron El Chema Larrymania Perro Amor Mi Familia Perfecta Quien Es Quien Victoria Donde Esta ElShrekLone Survivor Ted Identity Thief Children Of Men Charlie Wilson’s War Forgetting Sarah Marshall Frankenstein Kicking & Screaming Larry CrowneYou Me & Dupree.Two And A Half Men Everybody Loves Raymond George Lopez The Jeff Foxworthy Show King Of Queens Superstore House The Affair Yellowstone Law & Order Law & Order: SVU Ray Donovan Swedish Dicks American Ninja WarriorDreamWorks Dragons: Riders Of Berk Care BearsCare Bears: Welcome To Care-A-Lot