TV Talk: ‘A Man in Full’ debuts; ‘Hacks’ returns better than ever

It’s a busy TV week as networks and platforms debut shows in time for 2024 Emmy Awards consideration, including Peacock’s Holocaust drama “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” the return of Max’s “Hacks” and the debut of Netflix’s “A Man in Full,” which includes a reunion of “American Rust” actors.

‘A Man in Full’

Veteran TV scribe David E. Kelley adapts Tom Wolfe’s novel into an initially absorbing six-episode ensemble drama. “A Man in Full” pits filmed-in-Pittsburgh “American Rust” Season 1 stars Jeff Daniels and Bill Camp against each another at opposite ends of a conference table, each man eager to dominate the other in a meaty, dramatic and thoroughly entertaining scene as realized by director Regina King, who executive produces and directs three episodes (“West Wing” vet Thomas Schlamme directs the other three episodes).

Daniels stars as Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker, whose rickety empire teeters on the edge after bank executive Harry Zale (Camp) calls his bluff with the assistance of a nerdy bank underling, Raymond Peepgrass (Tom Pelphrey), whom Croker has mistreated in the past.

While the story revolves around Charlie, it’s not just about him. “A Man in Full” is a true, interconnected ensemble that’s less “Succession” than a show that feels more comfortably like a broadcast miniseries, albeit with more profanity.

Charlie’s secretary, Jill Hensley (2016 Carnegie Mellon School of Drama alum Chanté Adams, “A League of Their Own”), needs assistance from Charlie’s well-­intentioned lawyer, Roger White (Aml Ameen), when Jill’s husband, Conrad (Jon Michael Hill), gets arrested for hitting a cop when he attempts to keep his car from being towed.

Incumbent Atlanta mayor Wes Jordan (William Jackson Harper, “The Good Place”) also seeks Roger’s assistance in deploying opposition research on his political opponent.

The Charlie-Harry rivalry proves the show’s most compelling story, along with any scenes involving the mayor, thanks to a magnetic performance by Harper.

“A Man in Full,” now streaming on Netflix, is stacked with well-known supporting performers, including Diane Lane as Martha, one of Charlie’s ex-wives, Lucy Liu as Martha’s best friend and even Kelley regular Anthony Heald (“Boston Public”) as a judge not unlike the judges he played on Kelley’s “Boston Legal” and most memorably as the “Massachuuuuusetts” judge on “The Practice.”

While “A Man in Full” begins with promise, this limited series — like its lead character — falls apart by the end, which tosses out the novel’s denouement in favor of an ending that relies on Kelley’s baser instincts.

‘Hacks’

The best streaming comedy series returns with the third season of “Hacks,” now streaming its first two (of nine) episodes on Max. (Two episodes premiere Thursdays through May 30.)

Kudos to showrunners Paul W. Downs (who also plays the agent Jimmy), Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky for finding a way to reconstitute the pairing of veteran comic Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) that feels earned and not contrived.

As the new season begins, Deborah is riding high from her comeback stand-up special but starting to worry about what comes next. Ava is writing for a “Last Week Tonight”-type show and living with her girlfriend.

Eventually, Deborah and Ava end up working together again with the usual tumult that characterizes their bumpy but ultimately successful collaborations.

Perhaps more than past seasons, these new episodes deftly balance comedic moments with insightful dialogue that explores generational differences in grounded scenes that don’t come off as preachy.

‘Tattooist of Auschwitz’

A six-episode limited series based on a true story chronicled in Heather Morris’ 2018 book of the same name that is sadly timely given the rise of antisemitism nationwide.

During the holocaust in World War II, Lali (Jonah Hauer-King) falls in love with Gita (Anna Prochniak) while imprisoned at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp where Lali is put to work as a tattooist.

That period story is framed by an elderly Lali (Harvey Keitel) retelling his story to Morris (Melanie Lynskey) while haunted by Nazis from his youth.

It’s a sobering chronicle of a romance surrounded by death that’s, by virtue of its subject, more affecting than entertaining. It’s also slow-paced, suggesting the story might have been better told as a compact feature film rather than the drawn-out miniseries that has all episodes now streaming on Peacock.

‘The Contestant’

In 1998, a Japanese man with a long face who found humor as an escape from childhood bullies who nicknamed him Nasubi (“eggplant”) willingly participated in a reality TV challenge, “A Life in Prizes,” where he was sequestered in an unlocked room, asked to strip naked and filled out magazine coupons in an effort to win enough prizes whose total value summed to 1 million yen.

“The Contestant,” now streaming on Hulu, recounts Nasubi’s real-life “Truman Show” story of being in seclusion for one year and three months without knowing he had become a celebrity through the Japanese TV show “Denpa Shonen.”

Written and directed by Claire Titley, “The Contestant” is a casual indictment of the reality show producer who concocted the stunt but never really answers why, when Nasubi could have put his clothes back on and exited that room at any time, he chose to stay.

The documentary film is both a fascinating look at a period in Japanese TV culture and also an affecting portrait of resilience and empathy as Nasubi uses his unwitting celebrity for the benefit of others.