NEW YORK -- Quibi may specialize in small, bite-sized videos, but its volume of shows is large. The media platform launches Monday with 175 new original shows -- everything from scripted series, comedic diversions, deep dramas and celebrity fluff. Here's a look at some of the notable and less notable shows.
MOST DANGEROUS GAME
Liam Hemsworth stars as a father-to-be with huge bills and a terminal illness in this high-end thrilling series that feels like watching a big-budget film. Christoph Waltz plays a man with an intriguing offer for our hero: Be prey for a bunch of hunters and leave your wife and child millions. The idea of hunting humans for sport has a long history, and this series comes just a few weeks after the clunky film "The Hunt" was released. But this Quibi version is a masterclass in how the medium can create gripping yet tiny chapters.
SURVIVE
Each episode of this very adult and harrowing tale is engrossing and perfectly paced. Sophie Turner stars as a young woman with suicidal tendencies who survives a plane crash and fights to stay alive in a snowy wasteland alongside another passenger played by Corey Hawkins. It looks and feels like prestige Hollywood fare, and Turner is superb as a woman haunted by her own illness.
#FREERAYSHAWN
This engrossing crime drama centers on a fast food worker who we meet zooming through the back streets of New Orleans with what seems like every city officer on his tail. He's been set up by police on a drug deal and takes refuge inside his apartment building with his girlfriend and child. Each episode is tense and raw, with references to Black Lives Matter and a nod to the power of social media. It stars Stephan James as Rayshawn and an understated Laurence Fishburne as a sympathetic beat cop. The show is like a bag of chips: You can't stop after just a few episodes.
CHRISSY'S COURT
Chrissy Teigen as a judge? Why not? The model wears a robe and waves a gavel in a series of small claim cases -- one features two boyfriends fighting over one of them buying the wrong silly sweater for someone -- that don't have any of the testiness of "The People's Court." Things are so relaxed that Teigen's mother acts as the bailiff. Teigen is funny and patient and actually a pretty good judge. And, yes, hubby John Legend does show up sometimes. "Can I have one thing to myself ever?" she asks him.
MURDER HOUSE FLIP
Home renovation takes a dark turn in this series that sees notorious sites of violence get a makeover. "Murder and makeover don't usually go together. But now that's all going to change," says designer Joelle Uzyel in the first episode. It's macabre and, at times, almost seems to mock HGTV's huge swath of programming. But the result of the first makeover (which takes three episodes) is breathtaking. The funnest part is watching the prim and elegant designer Mike Welch gradually lose his calm. "Dismembered?" he asks in horror when told what happened years ago at his new work site.
PRODIGY
Young sports phenoms are the subjects of this series, hosted with a very light hand by soccer star Megan Rapinoe. Each documentary-style episode features interviews and competition footage of the stars, including of boxer Chantel Navarro, Olympic gold medal snowboarder Red Gerard and football player Korey Foreman. The portraits are deeply moving and personal, even if they have a tendency to veer toward adoration. Rapinoe only appears at the beginning of each episode to introduce the young athlete. Then she's gone, which seems a waste.
Entertainment on 04/07/2020