Jaime King's ex Kyle Newman wins physical custody of sons as she's ordered to rehab
A Los Angeles judge earlier this month awarded 'Barely Lethal' and 'Fanboys' director Newman sole primary custody over the two sons he shares with actor-model King, according to legal documents reviewed by The Times. The custody order says the ex-spouses will have joint legal custody over 11-year-old James and 9-year-old Leo, but that Newman, 49, has 'tie-breaking authority.'
The custody order, filed March 11 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, lays out the schedule and terms of King's visitation. The 'White Chicks' and 'Hart of Dixie' star, 45, is subject to supervised visitation — until the court rules otherwise — because she has not yet completed several requirements including a six-month drug and alcohol program that includes weekly testing, aftercare and a 12-step program, according to the filing. King also has yet to complete a 26-week parenting program, individual counseling to 'address case issues' and joint counseling with her children when the children's 'therapist deems it appropriate.'
Neither representatives for King nor Newman immediately responded to The Times' request for comment on Tuesday.
The court order came down nearly five years after King filed her petition to divorce Newman in May 2020. At the time, King cited 'irreconcilable differences' for ending their marriage after 12 years and sought joint legal and physical custody over her children with Newman. They married in Los Angeles in November 2007 and welcomed James and Leo (whose godmother is pop star Taylor Swift) in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
King and Newman settled their divorce in September 2023, but not without contention. Amid their divorce and custody battle, King and Newman traded blows via legal documents. As part of her divorce petition, King had accused her husband of verbal and emotional abuse. In his filings, Newman denied those claims and raised damning concerns about King's alleged drug and alcohol use and her struggles with addiction. He reportedly dubbed King a 'chronic drug addict and alcoholic who refuses to acknowledge that she has a problem.' He also said friends informed him that King allegedly used drugs while pregnant with their second child and detailed an alleged incident of King driving under the influence, according to People.
The terms of their settlement were not disclosed, but a legal representative for Newman told PageSix in September 2023, 'I am hopeful that this will be a clean beginning for them.'
The attorney added: 'They both understand they will be in each other's lives forever, and that their children deserve nothing but the best from both of them.'
Neither King nor Newman, who married 31-year-old singer Cyn in 2023, addressed the order on social media. The latter on Monday shared pictures from a belated birthday dinner and celebrated St. Patrick's Day with photos of his children.
'On this St. Patrick's Day, I'm the luckiest!,' Newman captioned an Instagram story shared Monday.
Times researcher Cary Schneider contributed to this report.
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Los Angeles Times
21 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Is Hollywood inspired by the CIA, or the other way around?
LANGLEY, Va. — At CIA headquarters, beyond the handsome granite seal on its lobby floor and a wall of stars carved in honor of the agency's fallen, experts are at work in the complex tasks of spycraft: weapons-trained officers, computer engineers, virologists, nuclear scientists. But there are also storytellers, makeup artists, theater majors and ballerinas — Americans who probably never thought their skills would match the needs of a spy agency. Yet the CIA thought otherwise. Though it rarely gets the spotlight, there's a revolving door of talent between the country's premiere intelligence agency and its entertainment industry, with inspiration and influence often working both ways. The agency is targeting professionals at the intersection of arts and technology for recruitment, CIA officers told The Times, and continues to cooperate with entertainment giants to inspire the next generation of creative spies. This month, the agency is assisting a New York Times bestselling author on a young adult book examining the foundations of the CIA laid during World War II. Scenes from a major upcoming film production were just shot at its headquarters, a logistical feat at an intelligence campus tucked away in the Virginia suburbs behind rings of security perimeters, where officers roam cracking down on Bluetooth signals. Another popular streaming TV series will be back at Langley to film this fall. But their collaboration goes far deeper than that, officers said. Creative minds in Hollywood and the entertainment industry have long had a role at the Central Intelligence Agency, devising clever solutions to its most vexing problems, such as perfecting the art of disguise and harnessing a magician's ability to cast spellbinding illusions. Indeed, in the 1950s, a magician from New York named John Mulholland was secretly contracted with the agency to write a manual for Cold War spies on trickery and deception. These days, the officers said, creative skills are more valuable than ever in such a technologically complex world. 'You're only limited by your own imagination — don't self-censor your ideas,' said Janelle, a CIA public affairs officer, granted the ability to speak under her first name at the request of the agency. 'We're always looking for partners.' David McCloskey, a former CIA analyst and author of 'Damascus Station' and other spy thrillers, offered several theories on why the agency might be interested in fostering a robust relationship with Hollywood, calling it 'a two-way street.' 'There definitely have been operational applications for espionage,' McCloskey said. 'It's probably the exception to the rule, but when it happens, it's compelling.' It's easy to see why CIA leaders would be interested in Hollywood, he said, in part to shape impressions of the agency. 'But their bread and butter business is receiving people to give secrets,' he continued, 'and part of that is getting close to people in power.' 'The closer you are to Hollywood,' McCloskey added, 'that's a really interesting 'in' to having a lot of interesting conversations.' Some of the CIA's most iconic missions — at least the declassified ones — document the agency's rich history with Hollywood, including Canadian Caper, when CIA operatives disguised themselves as a film crew to rescue six American diplomats in Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis, an operation moviegoers will recognize as the plot of 'Argo.' ''Argo' was almost too far-fetched to even believe,' said Brent, an in-house historian at CIA headquarters. 'It's almost more Hollywood than Hollywood.' Canadian Caper was both inspired by Hollywood and relied on Hollywood talent. Agent Tony Mendez had been a graphic artist before joining the agency and helping craft the mission. Another key player was John Chambers, the makeup artist who gave the world Spock's ears on 'Star Trek' and won an honorary Oscar for his trailblazing simian work on 'Planet of the Apes.' He was awarded the CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit for his work on the covert rescue effort. Just a few years before, Howard Hughes, then one of the world's richest men and a tycoon in media, film and aerospace, agreed to work with the CIA to provide cover for an effort by the agency to lift a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine off the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Deploying Hughes' Glomar Explorer under the guise of mineral extraction, the CIA was able to salvage most of the sub before The Times broke a story blowing its cover — 'the story that sunk our efforts,' in CIA parlance. And another mission was made possible thanks to a device invented by a professional photographer — a gadget that later became the inspiration of an over-the-top scene in the blockbuster Batman film 'The Dark Knight.' In Project Coldfeet, CIA agents gathering intelligence on a Soviet station erected on a precariously drifting sheet of ice in the Arctic needed a reliable extraction plan. But how does one pick up an agent without landing a plane on the ice? The answer was the 'skyhook': Balloons lifted a tether attached to a harness worn by an agent high into the sky. A CIA plane snagged the tether and carried the agent off to safety. In 'The Dark Knight,' Batman makes a dramatic escape deploying the same kind of balloon-harness contraption. CIA leadership often says that acceptance into the agency is harder than getting into Harvard and Yale combined. Yet the agency still has challenges recruiting the type of talent it is looking for — either in reaching those with unconventional skills, or in convincing them that they should leave secure, comparatively well-paid, comfortable jobs for a secretive life of public service. It is no easy task managing work at the agency, especially with family, CIA officials acknowledged. Deciding if and when to share one's true identity with their children is a regular struggle. But Janelle said the CIA tells potential recruits there is a middle ground that doesn't require them to entirely abandon their existing lives. 'People don't have to leave their companies to help their country and to work with CIA,' Janelle said. 'People come here because they love their country and know they can make a difference.' Janelle is part of a team that regularly engages with creatives who want to portray the agency or spies as accurately as possible. 'Some producers and directors reach out and they do care about accuracy,' Janelle said, 'but they ultimately pick and choose what's going to work for the film or show.' CIA analysts have also been known to leave the agency for opportunities in the entertainment industry, writing books and scripts drawing from their experiences — so long as they don't track too closely with those experiences. Joe Weisberg, the writer and producer behind the television series 'The Americans,' and McCloskey, who is working on a fifth novel focused on U.S. and British intelligence, were both part of the agency before launching their writing careers. And as CIA alumni, they had to submit their works for review. 'There's a whole publication and classification-review process,' Brent said. That process can be a bit of a slog, McCloskey said: 'They quite literally redact in black ink.' But it is far more difficult for nonfiction writers than novelists. 'There could be bits of tradecraft, or alluding to assets, or people at the agency, which are clear no's,' McCloskey said. 'But with novels, it's not that hard to write them in a way to get them through the review board.' Try as they may, studios often repeat the same falsehoods about the CIA, no matter how often they are corrected. Officers and agents aren't the same thing, for one. And as disappointing as it may be for lovers of spy thrillers, the majority of officers are not licensed or trained to carry weapons. 'One thing Hollywood often gets wrong is the idea that it's one officer doing everything, when it's really a team sport here,' Janelle said. 'Zero Dark Thirty,' an Oscar-winning film released in 2012 about the hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was widely acclaimed but criticized by some within the intelligence community over the credit it lends a single, fictional CIA analyst for tracking him down. McCloskey sympathizes with the writer's dilemma. 'I can't have 35 people on a team. From a storytelling standpoint, it just doesn't work,' he said, acknowledging that little in the field of espionage is accurately captured on screen, even though there are plenty of former spies available to work as consultants. 'There's no lack of sources to get it right,' he said. 'It's that the superhero spy — the Jack Ryans and Jason Bournes — are pretty much the Hollywood representation of espionage.' However inaccurately glorified and dramatized, the agency hopes that Hollywood's work can keep the revolving door moving, inspiring atypical talent to join its ranks. 'We have architects, carpenters, people who worked in logistics,' Brent said. 'People might not realize the range of skill sets here at CIA.' And as Canadian Caper showed, sometimes spycraft requires stagecraft. It's possible that what's needed most to complete the next mission won't be oceanography or data mining, but costume design. Or maybe another ballerina.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Helen Schulman walks us through the short stories in her new book, ‘Fools for Love'
Helen Schulman is not afraid to make you squirm. Across her long and distinguished career as a novelist and short story writer, she has fearlessly explored the awkward collisions between our private and public selves, between what we present to the world and what we conceal from even our closest companions. Her 2011 best-selling novel 'This Beautiful Life' dared to plunge headfirst into the shark-infested waters of the internet while most of us were still basking in the glow of the web's shiny benevolence. 'Fools For Love,' her latest collection of stories, finds Schulman's characters weighing the past against the present, looking for redemption in the wrong places and occasionally coming up roses. (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) When it comes to ideas, what becomes a short story and what becomes a novel? A lot of my ideas spring forward from something Henry James called the 'germ' — the bit of overheated gossip, the newspaper article, an eavesdropped conversation on a public bus, a story told by other parents when you are both pushing toddlers on the swings in a playground, which injects itself into the writerly imagination and grows — often over large swaths of time. Sometimes these obsessions entangle, too. That's what happened in [my story] 'The Revisionist.' My husband had a college buddy over for dinner who told us this story about a friend of his who was walking home from work when a strange man ran into his own house and slammed the door in his face. Why? What? Who? The reality was somewhat pedestrian — the intruder was a drunken next-door neighbor, who I guess had overshot. But the anecdote stuck with me. For some of your characters, the past is ever-present — they are fated to live with the sum of their choices, and it engenders a lot of regret. Can you speak to that? My all-time favorite writer is William Faulkner. You must be familiar with his quote from the novel 'Requiem for a Nun': 'The past is never dead. It's not even past.' I sometimes feel this way about existence in general, like each and every moment in a lifetime is somehow equal, and that as one ages the moments accrue and tag along wherever one goes. Certainly in my own life I don't sweat my big choices; I'm happy about them. I think a person does the best they can with what they know at the time. But I'm infinitely curious about what could have happened instead. There is a lot of status anxiety in your work — not just financial status, but marriage, career — the things you think will align pleasingly in middle age but often don't. My husband and I are both working writers. The marriage works; the financial status has gone in and out. I'm not sure I always looked to middle age as a time of 'pleasing alignment,' but I also didn't think the world would be as effed up as it is now. Some of my characters get older and wiser; some are just more wrinkled, taller kids. But there is a lot of endurance over time in these stories — love, friendship, workplace passions. I would venture to say that most of my characters have real lives, and some very real satisfactions within the stresses that inevitably go along with them. There are also secrets in your stories. Are we as sick as our secrets, or are they simply unavoidable? Everyone has secrets. In 'The Revisionist,' the protagonist even keeps secrets from himself. One of my closest friends, after the death of her parents, found out that one was married before and that the other had two other children with someone else. Now everyone is dead, and so we don't even know if the spouses knew this about each other. There is nothing pedestrian about 'ordinary lives.' We all roil and we all excite. I feel like one of my jobs as a fiction writer is to dive down beneath the surface. In the story 'My Best Friend,' there is a shocking act of violence. Why did you take it in that direction? That story is about two men, one an up-and-coming-actor and the other a want-to-be novelist, who fall into a deep brotherhood while sleeping with the same woman. In fact, they each marry her — sequentially, of course. At some point, the friendship goes south; the protagonist, Jake, and Jeannie, the woman, have kids together and his career dries up. The first husband, Phil, becomes a very successful TV showrunner and producer. Out of pity, he hires Jake to be a character in one of his nighttime soaps. Jake starts to become an audience favorite, and Phil tortures the character on the series. All their pent up homoerotic attachments and jealousies explode in a 'manly' brawl, which I see as tragicomedic, at the end of the story. The love story is theirs, after all. Kurt Vonnegut has a quote about, when one reaches advanced middle age, life becomes an epilogue. That is a hard thing to carry. Do you feel that this is the case? I guess I'm thinking about your story 'In a Better Place,' which revisits the characters from the book's titular story in old age. No, honestly I don't. That story is really about the celebration of long love between the couple at the heart of the story, its healing powers and sustaining comforts. What may make this all feel epilogue-y to you (not a word, I know) is because these two people feel happy and fulfilled by their marriage. … My own artistic hope is to go as long as I can. I live to write! Valerie Castellanos Clark weighs in on Charlie English's 'The CIA Book Club,' about how Polish citizens fought Russian communism with books. 'As with the best spy novels, we know the good guy is going to win … but how English gets us there is exciting,' Clark writes. Melina Sempill Watts calls Josh Jackson's book, 'The Enduring Wild: A Journey Into California's Public Lands' a timely book for a state that is in danger of losing its most precious public resource: 'Jackson's assertion that we are all landowners is a clarion call amid a GOP-led push to sell off public land.' Leigh Haber raves on Amy Bloom's latest novel 'I'll Be Right Here.' 'As Bloom has demonstrated throughout her stellar literary career,' writes Haber, 'she can train her eye on any person, place or object and render it sublime.' Jim Ruland calls Megan Abbott's latest thriller, 'El Dorado Drive,' a novel for our present age of anxiety, propelled by Abbott's masterful narrative drive and her skill at 'rendering the hot, messy inner lives of young people.' This week we are perusing the shelves at Now Serving, a cozy bookshop devoted to the culinary arts and located on the ground floor of Chinatown's Far East Plaza. Co-owner Ken Concepcion gives us the scoop on the hot goods. What books are selling right now? 'Umma,' 'By Heart,' 'Fat + Flour,' 'Salsa Daddy' and 'The Choi of Cooking.' What food trend are customers excited about right now? Being that we are in L.A., there has always been a demand for vegetarian and vegan titles. The interest in plant-based cookbooks that delve into specific cuisines such as Filipino, Vietnamese, Mexican and Japanese has definitely grown over the years, and the diversity of voices has been wonderful to see. There needs to be better representation for Ecuadorian, Guatemalan and other Central and South American cuisines as well — there is a real demand for it. Why do you think cookbooks are still important, despite the ubiquity of recipes online? As with anything that you can find online, recipes are no different. There are thousands upon thousands available. Most of them are copycat recipes. We think cookbooks are still unparalleled in that they can deliver a narrative, historical context and incredible imagery and stunning design in a world that is more reliant on technology than ever. Cookbooks at best are functional objects of art that can be then passed down from generation to generation. They can often become keepsakes, time capsules and family heirlooms.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
12 movies, TV shows and concert clips to watch this Fourth of July weekend
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who needs something to watch while complaining about the annoying people shooting off fireworks well past the celebratory window. In anticipation of the long holiday weekend, we're forgoing the usual Screen Gab format this week to give you an extended list of home viewing recommendations that our pop culture experts at The Times plan to binge — or what they think you should binge. It's an eclectic guide of new and old favorites, comforting and under-the radar picks — and there's cats too! Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times 'Sinners' (Max, beginning Friday) Anybody who has yet to see 'Sinners': It's time. Ryan Coogler's Mississippi-set period vampire horror film stars Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers who've come back to their hometown to open a new juke joint together. They bring their musically gifted cousin, played by Miles Caton, along for the ride. And it's quite a ride! Audiences were so excited to see this original film that some people traveled across state lines just to catch it in Imax 70mm — in fact, the demand was so high, the genre-bending hit received a second run at these larger-than-life Imax 70mm theaters. Even a standard format showing at my local suburban multiplex was packed on a weeknight the first time I went to see it. So while my TV is a poor substitute for a movie theater, I'll definitely be watching 'Sinners' again this weekend. And in a step toward accessibility, at-home viewers have the option to watch a version with Black American Sign Language. — Tracy Brown 'Andor' (Disney+) As a kid of the original 'Star Wars' generation — a wide-eyed 5-year-old when 'A New Hope' opened in 1977 — I often imagined what this galaxy might look like in a more grown-up light: complex, morally messy, beyond good and evil. 'Andor' comes as close as anything — maybe a little too close. As compelling as its second season is, I've found myself needing to take it slow: In an age of endless conflict, deepening divides and the shadows of authoritarianism, it cuts deep. The season traces the brutal machinery of empire: propaganda, collaborators, betrayal and the looming massacre of civilians on Ghorman, a peaceful planet crushed for daring to protest. At the recent nationwide 'No Kings' protests, some demonstrators carried 'Andor'-inspired signs that read 'We are the Ghor' and 'The galaxy is watching.' Finishing it on the Fourth feels right — like binge-watching as an act of civic reflection. — Josh Rottenberg 'Trainwreck: Poop Cruise' (Netflix) At a time when the headlines have you wondering — 'Has everything gone to s—?' — we're reminded of a 2014 maritime disaster where that sentiment very much applied. This installment of Netflix's 'Trainwreck' docuseries tells the tale of the infamous cruise ship disaster involving an engine fire on the Carnival Triumph that left 4,000 people aboard without electricity and plumbing. You can imagine where things go from there. If you always thought cruises were a terrible idea, this documentary will be validating. It's a wild and bizarre 55 minutes that'll forever change the way you look at lasagna. And it'll make you ask an existential question you never thought to consider: Would you be this dramatic about pooping in red biohazard bags if you were stranded out at sea? — Yvonne Villarreal 'Mid-Century Modern' (Hulu) Three gay men 'of a certain age,' one of whom is named Bunny and played by Nathan Lane, move in together in Palm Springs under the gimlet eye of Bunny's mother, played by the late, great Linda Lavin? Honestly, I couldn't explain under oath why I haven't watched this series yet. An increasingly rare multi-cam comedy filmed in front of a live audience, it promises the comfort of nostalgia — remember when you knew it was a comedy because you could hear people laughing? — and the bittersweet pleasures of lived-in lives. And though Bunny's claim that he and his friends Jerry (Matt Bomer) and Arthur (Nathan Lee Graham) are all in the same boat life-cycle-wise (Bomer and Graham are, respectively, 22 and 13 years younger than Lane), well, 'The Golden Girls' had a similar grouping and look how well that turned out. — Mary McNamara 'The Rehearsal' (Max) Confession time: Whenever I'm preparing for an event that requires me to speak in front of a large crowd, I write it out, practice and keep the notes handy as I'm doing said activity. That's what makes Nathan Fielder's 'The Rehearsal' refreshing — I'm not the only one who rehearses something — though he goes to some extremes with his stunts. The replica of Alligator Lounge in Season 1, which he creates so a man named Kor Skeete can reveal his education status to his trivia buddy, was nothing short of remarkable — I remember walking past the actual bar many times when I lived in Brooklyn. And the rest of the season was just as wild; one simulation has Fielder rehearsing to be a parent with Angela, a woman who is considering motherhood, leading to many awkward moments and conversations. Season 2 is no different, focusing on plane crashes and pilot communication, which sounds serious, but like the first season, Fielder takes many interesting tangents along the way. I'll take a cue from our awards columnist Glenn Whipp, who wrote about the show, and not spoil the conclusion, but you'll want to come along for the ride. — Maira Garcia Live Aid (YouTube) July 13, 1985, was a formative day of TV for millions of Gen-Xers, sincerity and irony swirling on the biggest concert stage imaginable. Phil Collins made a stink about flying transatlantically on the Concorde so he could play both in London and, later that night, in Philadelphia. But even though he had the No. 1 album in the country ('No Jacket Required'), now he seems like the least significant presence there. I've returned to many clips of the massive charity concert over the years (don't blame me if this YouTube site becomes a rabbit hole) and this weekend feels like a good one to remind myself of hope and '80s-style dreaminess. We stayed up late to watch Simon Le Bon and Duran Duran murder 'A View to a Kill.' A reunited Led Zeppelin were somehow even worse. Bleary-eyed, I'd been awake since 3 a.m. watching early MTV transmissions from Australia, which held its own Live Aid-related concert, to catch INXS. Return to the show for its two high points: Queen somehow condensed the whole of its grandeur into 21 unforgettable minutes. It's been called the greatest live set in rock history, but that actually happened earlier in the day when U2 played the hypnotic 'Bad' and Bono leapt into the crowd to hug a fan in danger of getting crushed, photographers circling them like it was a peace summit. It was everything I wanted pop to be. My band (average member age: 14) learned the song the next day. — Joshua Rothkopf 'Superman and the Mole Men' (VOD) How else can Superman rewind time without flying so fast he reverses the planet's spin? By whisking fans back to his feature film debut in 1951's 'Superman and the Mole Men,' a kitschy adventure with an unexpectedly moving moral compass. This black-and-white indie launched George Reeves' short and tragic career as the hero from Krypton. The producers considered it a teaser for his more famous TV series, 'Adventures of Superman,' which was released the next year. The plot is simple: Clark Kent and Lois Lane trek to a rural oil town to investigate a well that's drilled all the way to the center of the Earth. Small, hairy hominids emerge — but the twist is that Superman must protect these Mole Men from the prairie mob who want to shoot the outsiders on sight. It's rousing to watch this classic defender of truth, justice and the American way bend guns, take bullets and huff: 'I'm going to give you one last chance to stop acting like Nazi stormtroopers.' — Amy Nicholson 'Snowfall' (FX on Hulu) The race car epic 'F1' is as hot as burning rubber at the box office, and is expected to bring in large crowds over the Fourth of July weekend as it re-establishes Brad Pitt as a top movie star. Pitt is joined in the winner's circle by Damson Idris, who plays rookie driver Joshua Pearce. Idris' star turn is a sharp departure from his portrayal of Franklin Saint, a ruthless drug kingpin in 'Snowfall,' the FX drama streaming on Hulu about the rise of crack cocaine in South Los Angeles during the '80s. The series was one of the most popular shows in FX history, and was a vivid showcase for Idris, as Saint evolved from ambitious, charming entrepreneur to lethal thug. Although he was born in Peckham, London, Idris was cast in 'Snowfall' by co-creator John Singleton, who believed that he could convincingly portray the demeanor of a youth growing up in the rough streets of South Los Angeles. When 'Snowfall' completed its six-season run in 2023, the actor said in a Times interview that he was 'obviously focused on movies. I want people to see me on the big screen.' — Greg Braxton 'Marie Antoinette' ( History's punching bag and France's last queen, Marie Antoinette, is reimagined as a wily, independent thinker in this inventive, lush and revisionist drama. Season 1 of 'Marie Antoinette' opens in 1770, when at 14, she's married to Louis Auguste, the Dauphin who later became King Louis XVI. The beauty of France and opulence of Versailles play a starring role though out the series, as does actor Emilia Schüle, who masterfully portrays the queen as she learns how to deal with the pressures of her role. Released earlier this year, Season 2 finds the royal couple at the height of power but on the precipice of danger when France drops into alarming debt, the royal's political enemies launch a misinformation war against the crown (thus the fabricated 'Let Them Eat Cake!' line) and the starving masses are ready to revolt. Antoinette becomes a de facto leader when her meek husband crumbles under pressure. It's a must for those who love a fresh takes on oft-trod chapters of history. — Lorraine Ali 'Nyaight of the Living Cat' (Crunchyroll, starting Sunday) If you've ever watched 'The Last of Us' or 'The Walking Dead' and thought 'this would be so much better with cats,' 'Nyaight of the Living Cat' is the show for you. The anime series is set in a world where a mysterious virus turns humans into cats after they come into contact with afflicted felines, making places like cat cafés the ultimate danger zones. I can't say I've ever wondered about a cat version of a zombie apocalypse, but now that this show is on my radar, I can't wait for its premiere. And considering 'nya' is Japanese for 'meow,' I am hoping the show will lean into cat-related puns as it traces the fallout of this catastrophic viral outbreak. — T.B. 'Miami Vice' (VOD) Legend has it that NBC programming exec Brandon Tartikoff scrawled 'MTV Cops' on a cocktail napkin, setting the template for what became 'Miami Vice.' It's not true, but it's a good story. Watch the two-hour pilot episode and wait for the moment, near the end, when Phil Collins' 'In the Air Tonight' comes on while Crockett (Don Johnson) and Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) are driving the black Ferrari Daytona Spyder en route to take down a Colombian drug lord. The lighting, the editing, the integration of images and the music … yeah, it's 'MTV Cops.' But it's 'MTV Cops' made by Michael Mann, who, as executive producer, signed off on every aspect of the series in its first two seasons, using the show as a sandbox to hone techniques and themes that would show up in his 1986 crime thriller 'Manhunter' and 'Heat' and pretty much everything else he has done. My son once asked me what the Eighties were like. I played him Jan Hammer's synth-laden 'Miami Vice' theme. And, yes, with the pastels, the Wayfarers and contemporary music, it's a Reagan-era time capsule. But those first two seasons are really timeless — thrilling, ambitious, outrageous to this day. Watch the pilot and then the two-parter 'Calderone's Return.' You'll be hooked. — Glenn Whipp 'Bored to Death' (Max) Before streaming ate the world, I could measure my love for a series by whether I bought the seasons on video, and I am happy to say I am the proud owner of all three seasons of this excellent, quirky, nonjudgmental 2009 comedy, starring Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson. Set against, of all things, the New York literary world, it features Schwartzman as writer Jonathan Ames — also the name of the series' creator, adapting his own 'long short story' into this fairy tale of Brooklyn — who, suffering after a breakup, fueled by an excess of Raymond Chandler, white wine and pot and unable to finish a second novel, advertises himself as an 'unlicensed private detective.' Adventures follow, taking the very formal, very serious Jonathan into odd corners of the city and odder corners of humanity. With Galifianakis as best friend Ray, an angry comic book artist, and Danson as other best friend George, a hedonistic magazine publisher (and later restaurateur, publishing being even then what it is), rounding out television's greatest three-way bromance. — Robert Lloyd
