On our Streaming Radar this week, we have a return to the links, accompanied by the usual hijinks; a new series exploring the greatest of all time; and the second season of a survival drama that began on the big screen.
Let’s start with Stick.
The sports comedy about second chances is built around Owen Wilson’s Pryce Cahill, a golfer who once experienced the highest of highs before watching his career fall apart. The setup shares some DNA with another golf comedy from earlier this year, The Hawk, which stars Will Ferrell alongside another Wilson brother, Luke. Apparently, professional golf’s midlife crises are keeping the Wilson family busy.
Pryce finds a renewed sense of purpose managing and mentoring young prodigy Santi, played by Peter Dager. But after helping get Santi on the road to professional golf, Pryce begins an unlikely comeback of his own in Season 2. That creates an interesting tension between a young player trying to establish his future and a mentor still wrestling with the dreams he never fulfilled.
Rhea Seehorn joins the cast as Amanda, Pryce’s new coach, while Marc Maron, Timothy Olyphant, Judy Greer, Mariana Treviño and Lilli Kay return. Another new addition is Billy Zane, one of my personal favorites of all time.
Stick returns to Apple TV on Wednesday, November 4, with two episodes, followed by weekly installments through December 30.
“I am the greatest!”
Muhammad Ali made those words immortal, and now the first authorized scripted series about his life arrives on Prime Video. The Greatest stars Jaalen Best as Cassius Clay, the young boxer who would become Muhammad Ali.
The series explores the defining experiences inside and outside the ring for the man, the myth and the legend who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee. It also examines him as a son, brother, husband and father, finding the person behind the public figure.
Omari Hardwick, whom you know from Power and Army of the Dead, plays Ali’s father, Cassius Clay Sr. Michael Ealy takes on the gargantuan task of portraying Malcolm X, while Giovanni Ribisi plays trainer Angelo Dundee. Don’t call him Crocodile.
The series comes from Cross creator and showrunner Ben Watkins, whose work I’m a big fan of. Michael B. Jordan and Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, are also among the executive producers.
There’s also a casting choice that should get wrestling fans’ attention. Gorgeous George, whose flamboyance and gift for self-promotion helped influence Ali’s public persona, is portrayed by AEW star and wrestling legend Chris Jericho. That’s a particularly fun connection between two worlds that have always had more in common than people might think.
All eight episodes of The Greatest stream on Prime Video beginning Wednesday, November 4.
Finally, Homestead: The Series is back for a second season.
Starring Bailey Chase, Dawn Olivieri, Charles Esten and more, the survival drama continues the story of the 2024 movie. Following a nuclear attack off the coast of Los Angeles, survivors take shelter in a fortified compound. But disagreements over leadership, resources and whether to help outsiders threaten the security they’ve worked to establish.
By Season 2, winter has arrived, food is dwindling, disease is spreading and rival factions are creating new dangers. Jeff, Jenna and Cain find themselves under more pressure as the community struggles to survive.
The story is interesting, and the show is good. At its heart, it’s a faith-centered apocalypse story about what a community owes its own people and even those outside the gates. Having walls around you doesn’t make those decisions any easier.
The eight-episode second season of Homestead: The Series premieres Tuesday, November 3, on Angel, available through the Angel app and website with an Angel Guild membership. It’s a good watch, and I recommend checking it out.
