NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, Peacock, is available to select Comcast customers right now with a spate of children’s programming as well as episodes of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” But in hopes of attracting even more customers as the service fully rolls out over the next several months, the company took to their Twitter last night to unveil trailers for their first nine Peacock Original series. We’ve done the hard work of going through the trailers to point out which ones look the most promising — you can watch them in the (annoying, we know!) threaded Tweets below.
(Please note that currently all of these lack release dates; the company’s stated goal is to come out sometime in July 2020, although that may be in flux because of COVID-19.)
“Angelyne“
If you’re a resident of Los Angeles you’ve either heard or seen Angelyne and her pink Corvette driving around the city. Known as one of the first figures famous for being famous, “Angelyne” will showcase how the big bouffant billboard icon came to be — and she’s set to be played by “Shameless” star Emmy Rossum. The series is being directed by Nancy Oliver, writer of the adorably quirky Ryan Gosling movie “Lars and the Real Girl”, and marks Rossum’s first major series since being the long-running lead of “Shameless.”
“Brave New World“
“Brave New World” is a new adaptation of the seminal high school must-read of the same name by Aldous Huxley. Set in a dystopian version of London where everyone is separated into castes based on intelligence and live in drug-induced hazes, the world is shaken up with a man named John (Alden Erhenreich) from the outside world enters in. If you haven’t read Huxley’s book before … this brief teaser would have you believe there’s a lot of monochromatic walking. Erhenreich and Jessica Brown Findlay look well-suited for the roles, but a story as dense as this really would benefit from a longer trailer. “Brave New World” has been in development since 2015 when “The Americans” producers Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank started working on it for Syfy. It eventually transitioned to the USA Network before ending up here.
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“The Capture“
“The Capture” is the only one of the nine trailers here to have previously aired already, premiering on the BBC in September last year. It follows a homicide detective played by Holliday Grainger as she works to find evidence against a former U.K. Special Forces Lance Corporal, played by Callum Turner, accused of murder and damned by CCTV. There’s a great cast here, including Ron Perlman, but it’s hard to tell much from a 28-second trailer. In fact, the biggest selling point of this trailer is that it’s “from a 3-time Oscar-nominated producer,” though it’s unclear who that is, as none of the names listed on the series IMDB page or Wikipedia are award-winning. Either way, if you’re a fan of British drama or the “eye in the sky” genre this is a good bet.
“Punky Brewster“
Like with Disney+, a core element of Peacock is reviving old shows and playing on nostalgia — and the cutest looks to be this reboot of “Punky Brewster.” “Punky Brewster” ran from 1984-1988 and also spanned a single-season animated series. The show followed lovable orphan Punky (Soleil Moon Frye), who is taken under the wing of an older building manager. Punky would go on a series of child-themed adventures with a few very special episodes, including the infamous “locked in a fridge” storyline. Now, Frye is back as Punky, although now she’s a mother of three and is in a relationship with Freddie Prinze, Jr.? We’re hitting on all the nostalgia beats, aren’t we? But in all seriousness, this series looks a lot like Disney’s “Boy Meets World” spin-off, “Girl Meets World”, and if that’s the case this should provide a lot of fun for the entire family.
“Psych 2: Lassie Come Home“
The comedy series “Psych” ran for eight seasons from 2006 to 2014 and followed “psychic” Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and his partner Gus (Dule Hill). The series was a mixture of police procedural and buddy comedy that garnered quite the following over its lifespan. It would be nominated for an Emmy twice, as well as a twice-nominated People’s Choice Award series. It would eventually have its own movie, airing in 2017 — and now we’re getting another one. Like all the Peacock trailers, there isn’t anything known about the plot in this brief teaser but isn’t it fun to see Gus and Shawn again?
“Madagascar: A Little Wild“
I’m not convinced the 33-second brief of “Madagascar: A Little Wild” isn’t the opening credits. If anything, I’ll have this song in my head all day, so points for being memorable. “Madagascar: A Little Wild” is an origin story about the characters that populate the “Madagascar” universe. This is easily the most unsurprising feature in the entire Peacock Originals lineup; the four “Madagascar” features and spin-off, “Penguins of Madagascar”, have been incredibly successful and the franchise has already done well on television, with the series “The Penguins of Madagascar” and “All Hail King Julien” lasting several years. With all the series right now either skewing towards adults or nostalgia, this should appeal to the youngest of viewers.
“A.P. Bio“
Not really sure who needed a third season of this NBC comedy but a third season is coming! The series follows a former philosophy professor who teaches A.P. biology and also seeks vengeance against the people who wronged him. The show aired for two seasons on NBC before being canceled last year; it was then announced a third season would air on Peacock. If anything, this sounds like a test case for future bubble shows. If you’re not already a fan of the series odds are you won’t be with this 29-second trailer.
“Intelligence“
As with “The Capture”, this is technically a British import that started airing in February. “Friends” star David Schwimmer plays an NSA agent who teams up a computer analyst to form a new cyber crimes unit in the UK. Odds are your mileage will vary depending on how much you enjoy Schwimmer’s comedy and his voice. Personally, I can’t stand Ross on “Friends” — so not sure why I’d want to watch a series where he plays that character next to stuffy British people?
“Saved By the Bell“
This was Peacock’s big announcement on day one: a reboot of the popular teen comedy “Saved By the Bell.” The show, which ran from 1989 to 1993 and had a bunch of spin-offs and movies, followed the students of Bayside High. In this incarnation it looks like the lead is going to be former Bayside student A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez) who no doubt will be joined by the rest of his former co-stars in various cameos. But it’s not enough to tread on the nostalgia of the original series. Nope, there’s a new class — not to be confused with “Saved By the Bell: The New Class” — made up of the children of those former Bayside kids. (Are you cross-eyed yet?) Seriously, everything about this 55-second teaser either screams “Glee” ripoff or just annoying. Here’s hoping the series has a bit more self-awareness than “we’ve all slept together.”
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