Latest news with #TomHanks-narrated
USA Today
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
When do new episodes of 'The Americas' release? Where to watch Tom Hanks-narrated wildlife series
When do new episodes of 'The Americas' release? Where to watch Tom Hanks-narrated wildlife series Show Caption Hide Caption The most anticipated TV shows of 2025 USA TODAY TV critic Kelly Lawler shares her top 5 TV shows she is most excited for this year Take a virtual tour of the "world's greatest supercontinent" in a new docuseries narrated by Tom Hanks. Produced by renowned wildlife producer Mike Gunton, "The Americas" is a new tentpole series that "showcases the wonders, secrets and fragilities of the world's greatest supercontinent," a news release by NBC says. The series has been produced by Gunton for BBC Studios Natural History Unit in association with Universal Studio Group division Universal Television Alternative Studio. "For the first time, the Americas stars in its own incomparable series, using cutting-edge technology to uncover never-before-seen behavior, and highlight the extraordinary, untold wildlife stories that will deeply connect with millions around the world," NBC says. The docuseries aimed at highlighting "the wonders, secrets and fragilities of the world's greatest supercontinent" has been filmed over a span of five years across 180 expeditions. Each hour-long episode features a different location, such as Patagonia, the Gulf Coast, wild west and the Andes among others across the entire continent of America, including north and south America. Here's what to know about "The Americas" including how to watch new episodes. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox When do new 'The Americas' episodes come out? How to watch New episodes of "The Americas" air every Sunday on NBC at 8 p.m. ET / PT on NBC. The episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock. The series premiered on Feb. 23 with two back-to-back episodes. 'The Americas': Stream on Peacock 'The Americas' episode schedule Here's a look at the upcoming episode schedule for "The Americas." "The Gulf Coast": March 16 at 8 p.m. ET/PT "The Andes": March 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT "The Caribbean": March 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT 'The West Coast': April 6 at 8 p.m. ET/PT 'Patagonia": April 13 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT Previous episodes and their air dates are: "The Atlantic Coast": February 23 "Mexico": February 23 "The Wild West": March 2 "The Amazon": March 2 "The Frozen North": March 9 'The Americas' narrator The series is narrated by Tom Hanks while the music has been composed by Hans Zimmer. The making of 'The Americas' A week after the series concludes on Monday, April 21, a special episode "showcasing a behind-the-scenes look at 'The Americas'" will stream exclusively on Peacock and will feature Hanks and the crew "revealing perils and breakthroughs behind the lens of this milestone nature series." NBC says the special will explore "the dedication, fieldcraft, humor, heart, and innovation that came together to create one of the most ambitious wildlife series ever produced." Watch the 'The Americas' trailer We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn't influence our coverage. Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@ and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Americas review – Tom Hanks' beautiful new nature series pretends the climate crisis doesn't exist
It does seem a little spoiled to be critical of a documentary as gorgeous as The Americas, a vast, grandiose Tom Hanks-narrated nature series which explores territory from New England to the tip of Patagonia. But we are living through an extraordinary glut of nature television, and the pool of previously unfilmed and unfilmable natural world scenes must surely be getting smaller. This 10-parter talks up its credentials as something new and different: five years in the making, gathered over 180 separate expeditions, capturing discoveries which have never been on camera before, the most expensive unscripted project ever made by NBC (via BBC Studios). Why, then, does it feel so familiar, and occasionally even tepid? This is nature television that is best enjoyed with your brain closed off. Much like Apple TV+'s recent The Secret Lives of Animals, it favours cutesy anthropomorphism and spectacular visuals over any honest assessment of nature and the environment as a whole. There is little brutality, barely any peril – a red-tailed hawk hovers near some adorable racoon babies, but that's about it – and an almost offensive unwillingness to even consider the impact humanity has had, and continues to have, on species and their habitats. Clearly that is not what it's here to do. Choosing Hanks as narrator positions it in a cosy corner, and he delivers on that. It would be churlish not to be awed by the footage, which is amazing in the truest sense of the word. Anyone with a passing interest in animals or the great outdoors will find plenty of surface entertainment here. On the Outer Banks of North Carolina, wild stallions fight for dominance, manes flying in the wind in slow-motion, as if an 80s soft rock band is performing their chart-topping ballad. In Chesapeake Bay, a bald eagle, surprisingly bad at getting fish out of water, instead pinches them from osprey, who are much better adapted. In the Graveyard of the Atlantic, there are sand tigers, which have formed a mutually beneficial relationship with a much smaller fish, protecting it from predators while, presumably, it hides the shark and allows it to eat that predator. In some vaguely defined suburbia, periodical cicadas emerge after 17 years underground. Watching them assume their adult form, as they shed their old skin, is gruesome and mesmerising. We see fireflies putting on a spectacular performance in the Appalachian woods, and of course, that old nature show standard emerges in the Smoky Mountains, as a protective mother bear is shown to watch over and fight for her cubs. Its most fascinating footage, to my eye, is of an oak tree in Massachusetts, dropping its leaves for autumn. It sounds ordinary, but to watch that long process of the leaves losing their green, turning red and brown then falling from the tree, all sped up into a few moments of television, is remarkable. Why, then, does this feel so shallow? In part, because for all of its promises of new discoveries, it falls back on well-worn anthropomorphism. The eagle, brought back from near-extinction by a conservation programme (the only mention of conservation here), thrives due to its 'attitude'. The raccoons, hustling for existence in New York City, have an anxious mother protecting her young from the hawk, but also an eldest son, who must leave the family home and make his own way in life. The bears of the Smoky Mountains – America's most visited National Park – are bringing 'magic to millions', as if their sole purpose is to be characters in some real-world Disney attraction. The danger of this approach is that it makes it sound as if everything is fine, that sufficient moxie will allow endangered species to thrive, that the natural world is the same as it ever was, only now we can watch it from our sofas and are encouraged to go 'ahh'. There is nothing wrong with a cute nature documentary, in ordinary times, and this is lovely to look at and impressively filmed. But these are not ordinary times. Climate denial is thoroughly mainstream. The US administration is erasing mentions of the climate crisis across government websites. BP is increasing oil and gas pollution and reducing its investments in renewable energy. Humanity has buried its head in the sand and is allowing it to become entombed there. I suppose you could argue that is not the job of a sweet nature documentary narrated by Tom Hanks to bang the drum about the scale of the climate crisis. But it is becoming less and less easy to sit back and enjoy the show when that show is wearing blinkers and sticking its fingers in its ears. Even if it is humming a pretty tune. The Americas aired on BBC One and is on iPlayer now.
The Guardian
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Americas review – Tom Hanks' beautiful new nature series pretends the climate crisis doesn't exist
It does seem a little spoiled to be critical of a documentary as gorgeous as The Americas, a vast, grandiose Tom Hanks-narrated nature series which explores territory from New England to the tip of Patagonia. But we are living through an extraordinary glut of nature television, and the pool of previously unfilmed and unfilmable natural world scenes must surely be getting smaller. This 10-parter talks up its credentials as something new and different: five years in the making, gathered over 180 separate expeditions, capturing discoveries which have never been on camera before, the most expensive unscripted project ever made by NBC (via BBC Studios). Why, then, does it feel so familiar, and occasionally even tepid? This is nature television that is best enjoyed with your brain closed off. Much like Apple TV+'s recent The Secret Lives of Animals, it favours cutesy anthropomorphism and spectacular visuals over any honest assessment of nature and the environment as a whole. There is little brutality, barely any peril – a red-tailed hawk hovers near some adorable racoon babies, but that's about it – and an almost offensive unwillingness to even consider the impact humanity has had, and continues to have, on species and their habitats. Clearly that is not what it's here to do. Choosing Hanks as narrator positions it in a cosy corner, and he delivers on that. It would be churlish not to be awed by the footage, which is amazing in the truest sense of the word. Anyone with a passing interest in animals or the great outdoors will find plenty of surface entertainment here. On the Outer Banks of North Carolina, wild stallions fight for dominance, manes flying in the wind in slow-motion, as if an 80s soft rock band is performing their chart-topping ballad. In Chesapeake Bay, a bald eagle, surprisingly bad at getting fish out of water, instead pinches them from osprey, who are much better adapted. In the Graveyard of the Atlantic, there are sand tigers, which have formed a mutually beneficial relationship with a much smaller fish, protecting it from predators while, presumably, it hides the shark and allows it to eat that predator. In some vaguely defined suburbia, periodical cicadas emerge after 17 years underground. Watching them assume their adult form, as they shed their old skin, is gruesome and mesmerising. We see fireflies putting on a spectacular performance in the Appalachian woods, and of course, that old nature show standard emerges in the Smoky Mountains, as a protective mother bear is shown to watch over and fight for her cubs. Its most fascinating footage, to my eye, is of an oak tree in Massachusetts, dropping its leaves for autumn. It sounds ordinary, but to watch that long process of the leaves losing their green, turning red and brown then falling from the tree, all sped up into a few moments of television, is remarkable. Why, then, does this feel so shallow? In part, because for all of its promises of new discoveries, it falls back on well-worn anthropomorphism. The eagle, brought back from near-extinction by a conservation programme (the only mention of conservation here), thrives due to its 'attitude'. The raccoons, hustling for existence in New York City, have an anxious mother protecting her young from the hawk, but also an eldest son, who must leave the family home and make his own way in life. The bears of the Smoky Mountains – America's most visited National Park – are bringing 'magic to millions', as if their sole purpose is to be characters in some real-world Disney attraction. The danger of this approach is that it makes it sound as if everything is fine, that sufficient moxie will allow endangered species to thrive, that the natural world is the same as it ever was, only now we can watch it from our sofas and are encouraged to go 'ahh'. There is nothing wrong with a cute nature documentary, in ordinary times, and this is lovely to look at and impressively filmed. But these are not ordinary times. Climate denial is thoroughly mainstream. The US administration is erasing mentions of the climate crisis across government websites. BP is increasing oil and gas pollution and reducing its investments in renewable energy. Humanity has buried its head in the sand and is allowing it to become entombed there. I suppose you could argue that is not the job of a sweet nature documentary narrated by Tom Hanks to bang the drum about the scale of the climate crisis. But it is becoming less and less easy to sit back and enjoy the show when that show is wearing blinkers and sticking its fingers in its ears. Even if it is humming a pretty tune. The Americas aired on BBC One and is on iPlayer now.
