• An Exhibition Celebrates the Self-Taught Immigrant Artists Shaping Chicago

    Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, , born Querétaro
    Mexico, 1975, “In the name of progress,”, mixed media, 69 5/8 x 26 x 24 inches. Photo by Photo by Lisa Lindvay
    . All images courtesy of Intuit Art Museum, shared with permission
    An Exhibition Celebrates the Self-Taught Immigrant Artists Shaping Chicago
    May 23, 2025
    ArtSocial Issues
    Grace Ebert

    Built on the traditional homeland of the Sauk, Fox, and Potawatomi peoples, Chicago is a city of immigrants. Just 13 years after the city was incorporated in 1837, more than half of its residents were born overseas, having flocked to the region from across Europe and Asia alongside tens of thousands of others. Today, Chicago is home to 1.7 million immigrants, totaling 18 percent of the population.
    The inaugural exhibition at the newly renovated Intuit Art Museum celebrates this history by bringing together 22 artists with ties to the city. Comprised of 75 works across mediums, Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago highlights those who worked in the Midwest and established their practice outside the traditional art world models.
    Carlos Barberena, born Granada, Nicaragua, 1972, “Exodus”, linocut on HW Rives paper, edition of 25, 24 x 19 inches
    Intuit is a longstanding champion of self-taught artists. Established in 1991, the museum has recognized the incredible creative contributions of those operating outside the mainstream due to economic, societal, or geographic reasons.
    One such artist is Henry Darger, who worked as a hospital custodian by day and produced an enormous collection of drawings, watercolor paintings, and cut paper works only discovered after his death. While Darger’s works now sell for prices in the high six figures, his story is unique. Historically, self-taught artists don’t often attain the critical or financial recognition of their traditionally trained peers.
    Catalyst comes at a particularly relevant moment in the U.S., as immigrants are under increasing threat. Spotlighting works with a wide array of topics and approaches, the exhibition creates a sort of contemporary tapestry of those shaping Chicago’s cultural landscape since the mid-20th century. The show intends to highlight “artists deserving of greater attention, while posing questions about access to the art world and how art comes to be defined and valued,” a statement says.
    Included are four impeccably detailed paintings by Drossos P. Skyllas, an Ottoman-born artist known for his enchanting hyperrealistic portraits. Charles Barbarena works with a similar devotion to precise mark-making in his portraiture. The Nicaraguan artist creates linocuts that frame instances of trauma and adversity with elaborate floral motifs, his depictions of people continually harnessing compassion and resistance.
    Drossos P. Skyllas, born Kalymnos, Ottoman Empire, 1912-1976, “Greek Bishop”, oil on canvas, 65 x 41 1/2 inches
    Found object and mixed-media sculpture features prominently, too. The soaring miniature cathedral by Charles Warner, for example, interprets the sacred spaces of his childhood in Prussia through hand-carved wood and pastel paint. There’s also the figurative assemblage of Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, who sculpts a rendition of the Statue of Liberty. With a torso of unidentifiable hands caked in soil and detritus at her feet, Piloto’s “In the name of progress” complicates the symbol of freedom.
    Catalyst is on view through January 11, 2026.
    Charles Warner, born Prussia, 1884-1964, “Cathedral III”mixed media, 48 1/16 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 inches. Photo by Mark Widhalm
    Charles Warner, born Prussia, 1884-1964, “Cathedral III”mixed media, 48 1/16 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 inches. Photo by Mark Widhalm
    Photo by Lisa and Nick Albertson
    María Enríquez de Allen, American, born Allende, Mexico, 1907-1999, “Untitled”, mixed media, 8 ¾ x 7 x 10 ½ inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay
    Marion Perkins, American, born Marche, Arkansas, 1908-1961, “Untitled”, steel wire, 19 x 12 x 13 inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay
    Bronislaw “Bruno” Sowa, American, born Lubomierz, 1915-1995, “Untitled”, oil on board in carved pyrography frame with glass jewels, 33 x 24 x 1 1/4 inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay
    Photo by Lisa and Nick Albertson
    Next article
    #exhibition #celebrates #selftaught #immigrant #artists
    An Exhibition Celebrates the Self-Taught Immigrant Artists Shaping Chicago
    Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, , born Querétaro Mexico, 1975, “In the name of progress,”, mixed media, 69 5/8 x 26 x 24 inches. Photo by Photo by Lisa Lindvay . All images courtesy of Intuit Art Museum, shared with permission An Exhibition Celebrates the Self-Taught Immigrant Artists Shaping Chicago May 23, 2025 ArtSocial Issues Grace Ebert Built on the traditional homeland of the Sauk, Fox, and Potawatomi peoples, Chicago is a city of immigrants. Just 13 years after the city was incorporated in 1837, more than half of its residents were born overseas, having flocked to the region from across Europe and Asia alongside tens of thousands of others. Today, Chicago is home to 1.7 million immigrants, totaling 18 percent of the population. The inaugural exhibition at the newly renovated Intuit Art Museum celebrates this history by bringing together 22 artists with ties to the city. Comprised of 75 works across mediums, Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago highlights those who worked in the Midwest and established their practice outside the traditional art world models. Carlos Barberena, born Granada, Nicaragua, 1972, “Exodus”, linocut on HW Rives paper, edition of 25, 24 x 19 inches Intuit is a longstanding champion of self-taught artists. Established in 1991, the museum has recognized the incredible creative contributions of those operating outside the mainstream due to economic, societal, or geographic reasons. One such artist is Henry Darger, who worked as a hospital custodian by day and produced an enormous collection of drawings, watercolor paintings, and cut paper works only discovered after his death. While Darger’s works now sell for prices in the high six figures, his story is unique. Historically, self-taught artists don’t often attain the critical or financial recognition of their traditionally trained peers. Catalyst comes at a particularly relevant moment in the U.S., as immigrants are under increasing threat. Spotlighting works with a wide array of topics and approaches, the exhibition creates a sort of contemporary tapestry of those shaping Chicago’s cultural landscape since the mid-20th century. The show intends to highlight “artists deserving of greater attention, while posing questions about access to the art world and how art comes to be defined and valued,” a statement says. Included are four impeccably detailed paintings by Drossos P. Skyllas, an Ottoman-born artist known for his enchanting hyperrealistic portraits. Charles Barbarena works with a similar devotion to precise mark-making in his portraiture. The Nicaraguan artist creates linocuts that frame instances of trauma and adversity with elaborate floral motifs, his depictions of people continually harnessing compassion and resistance. Drossos P. Skyllas, born Kalymnos, Ottoman Empire, 1912-1976, “Greek Bishop”, oil on canvas, 65 x 41 1/2 inches Found object and mixed-media sculpture features prominently, too. The soaring miniature cathedral by Charles Warner, for example, interprets the sacred spaces of his childhood in Prussia through hand-carved wood and pastel paint. There’s also the figurative assemblage of Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, who sculpts a rendition of the Statue of Liberty. With a torso of unidentifiable hands caked in soil and detritus at her feet, Piloto’s “In the name of progress” complicates the symbol of freedom. Catalyst is on view through January 11, 2026. Charles Warner, born Prussia, 1884-1964, “Cathedral III”mixed media, 48 1/16 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 inches. Photo by Mark Widhalm Charles Warner, born Prussia, 1884-1964, “Cathedral III”mixed media, 48 1/16 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 inches. Photo by Mark Widhalm Photo by Lisa and Nick Albertson María Enríquez de Allen, American, born Allende, Mexico, 1907-1999, “Untitled”, mixed media, 8 ¾ x 7 x 10 ½ inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay Marion Perkins, American, born Marche, Arkansas, 1908-1961, “Untitled”, steel wire, 19 x 12 x 13 inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay Bronislaw “Bruno” Sowa, American, born Lubomierz, 1915-1995, “Untitled”, oil on board in carved pyrography frame with glass jewels, 33 x 24 x 1 1/4 inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay Photo by Lisa and Nick Albertson Next article #exhibition #celebrates #selftaught #immigrant #artists
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    An Exhibition Celebrates the Self-Taught Immigrant Artists Shaping Chicago
    Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, , born Querétaro Mexico, 1975, “In the name of progress,” (2017), mixed media, 69 5/8 x 26 x 24 inches. Photo by Photo by Lisa Lindvay . All images courtesy of Intuit Art Museum, shared with permission An Exhibition Celebrates the Self-Taught Immigrant Artists Shaping Chicago May 23, 2025 ArtSocial Issues Grace Ebert Built on the traditional homeland of the Sauk, Fox, and Potawatomi peoples, Chicago is a city of immigrants. Just 13 years after the city was incorporated in 1837, more than half of its residents were born overseas, having flocked to the region from across Europe and Asia alongside tens of thousands of others. Today, Chicago is home to 1.7 million immigrants, totaling 18 percent of the population. The inaugural exhibition at the newly renovated Intuit Art Museum celebrates this history by bringing together 22 artists with ties to the city. Comprised of 75 works across mediums, Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago highlights those who worked in the Midwest and established their practice outside the traditional art world models. Carlos Barberena, born Granada, Nicaragua, 1972, “Exodus” (2019), linocut on HW Rives paper, edition of 25, 24 x 19 inches Intuit is a longstanding champion of self-taught artists. Established in 1991, the museum has recognized the incredible creative contributions of those operating outside the mainstream due to economic, societal, or geographic reasons. One such artist is Henry Darger, who worked as a hospital custodian by day and produced an enormous collection of drawings, watercolor paintings, and cut paper works only discovered after his death. While Darger’s works now sell for prices in the high six figures, his story is unique. Historically, self-taught artists don’t often attain the critical or financial recognition of their traditionally trained peers. Catalyst comes at a particularly relevant moment in the U.S., as immigrants are under increasing threat. Spotlighting works with a wide array of topics and approaches, the exhibition creates a sort of contemporary tapestry of those shaping Chicago’s cultural landscape since the mid-20th century. The show intends to highlight “artists deserving of greater attention, while posing questions about access to the art world and how art comes to be defined and valued,” a statement says. Included are four impeccably detailed paintings by Drossos P. Skyllas (1912-1973), an Ottoman-born artist known for his enchanting hyperrealistic portraits. Charles Barbarena works with a similar devotion to precise mark-making in his portraiture. The Nicaraguan artist creates linocuts that frame instances of trauma and adversity with elaborate floral motifs, his depictions of people continually harnessing compassion and resistance. Drossos P. Skyllas, born Kalymnos, Ottoman Empire (now Greece), 1912-1976, “Greek Bishop” (c. 1967), oil on canvas, 65 x 41 1/2 inches Found object and mixed-media sculpture features prominently, too. The soaring miniature cathedral by Charles Warner, for example, interprets the sacred spaces of his childhood in Prussia through hand-carved wood and pastel paint. There’s also the figurative assemblage of Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, who sculpts a rendition of the Statue of Liberty. With a torso of unidentifiable hands caked in soil and detritus at her feet, Piloto’s “In the name of progress” complicates the symbol of freedom. Catalyst is on view through January 11, 2026. Charles Warner, born Prussia (now Poland), 1884-1964, “Cathedral III” (c. 1955) mixed media, 48 1/16 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 inches. Photo by Mark Widhalm Charles Warner, born Prussia (now Poland), 1884-1964, “Cathedral III” (c. 1955) mixed media, 48 1/16 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 inches. Photo by Mark Widhalm Photo by Lisa and Nick Albertson María Enríquez de Allen, American, born Allende, Mexico, 1907-1999, “Untitled (New life goat skull)” (1997), mixed media, 8 ¾ x 7 x 10 ½ inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay Marion Perkins, American, born Marche, Arkansas, 1908-1961, “Untitled (Wire head)” (c. 1955), steel wire, 19 x 12 x 13 inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay Bronislaw “Bruno” Sowa, American, born Lubomierz (Poland), 1915-1995, “Untitled” (1994), oil on board in carved pyrography frame with glass jewels, 33 x 24 x 1 1/4 inches. Photo by Lisa Lindvay Photo by Lisa and Nick Albertson Next article
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  • “Dopamine Decor” and a Speakeasy Entrance Define This Texas Renovation

    Not every client has a firm grasp on their priorities when starting a project, but the marching orders from one Central Texas couple were abundantly clear: They wanted to convert a classic car garage on their estate into a dance hall and speakeasy, creating their own social sanctuary. After enlisting designer Sarah Stacey to bring their vision to life, that “simple” project quickly catapulted into a four-year, all-encompassing design journey when the pair added the renovation of their 4,900-square-foot primary home into the scope. It was during this time that Stacey, an avid auction enthusiast, shared her passion and expertise with her clients. “Walking through auction previews is thrilling—you wonder who owned the items and how they were used. You can feel the history,” she explains. “New homes need stories; we can design an entire room around a piece. Plus, you can save a lot of money at these events.”But before the bidding wars came planning. Stacey reimagined the space that once housed the former owner’s car collection as a moody billiards club, replete with plenty of lounge seating, a full bar salvaged from a Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and vintage collectibles, including an original Jimi Hendrix guitar. To separate the dance hall from the speakeasy, she cleverly utilized an iconic British telephone booth as the secret entrance from one area to the other. A simple push of the back wall gets you in—if you know there’s a door, that is. This is a dopamine interior.... It’s immersive and just makes you happy.For the main house, the objective was to embrace the home’s original Mediterranean style, but amplify it with a series of thoughtful selections. Stacey meticulously evaluated “every single Sherwin-Williams white” to find the ideal buttery color for the main living areas, incorporated 200-year-old salvaged wood beams, and designed the laundry room in the spirit of a French garden, complete with an undercounter striped sink skirt worthy of a Parisian café.She then set out to blend old-world charm—like the lavishly draped canopy bed in the primary suite—with contemporary pieces, such as large-scale pendants and multitiered chandeliers. The overall design is enhanced by colorful carpets, including a striking snake pattern in the living room and a hand-tufted graphic rug in the dining area. Auction house wins, antique treasures, and Parisian flea-market finds complete this unexpected and unconventional Texas haven.FAST FACTSDesigner: Sarah Stacey Interior DesignLocation: Central TexasThe Space: A garage-turned-speakeasy with a dance hall and a 4,900 sq ft main house with 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, a dressing room, sauna, and wet bar. SPEAKEASYThe former garage transformed into a go-to party hub.Stephen KarlischWallpaper: Phillip Jeffries. Sconces: Visual Comfort. Bar Stools: Nior. Armchairs: Hickory Chair. Coffee table: Sunpan. Drink Tables: Robert James. The bar is from a Ruth’s Chris restaurant and has become the heart of the space. It’s where friends and family naturally gather, often ending the night belting out karaoke songs, tipsy and totally in the moment.Stephen KarlischStephen KarlischThe husband won the six Orgy lithographs by Picasso at an online auction and Stacey hired artist Elisa Gomez to paint the frames. One of the standout features above the bar table is an original Jimi Hendrix guitar—a striking tribute to the rock 'n' roll legend. A custom tufted banquette in Schumacher fabric sits alongside Robert James café tables and under Hinkley pendants for the ultimate lounge experience.Stephen KarlischSeating: Hickory Chair. Coffee table: vintage. Rug: vintage, EtsyA cozy corner of the room is designed for dance breaks, providing plentiful options where guests can sit and take five. A framed archival photograph of Jimi Hendrix features a guitar that the couple purchased for their own collection. Stephen KarlischA British telephone booth gets recast as the secret entrance between the speakeasy and dance hall. See Stacey's go-to formula for a memorable entrance below. Create your own one-of-a-kind entrance like designer Sarah StaceyFind something that resonates with you. Stacey’s clients considered a Coca-Cola machine but fell in love with this phone booth.In this case, the designer brought on a contractor to remove the back of the booth and then cleverly recreate it as a hidden door.Keep it simple with a wall panel that pushes open, or go elaborate with an engineer-approved coded release—just type in the numbers and voilà!Always make sure there’s a manual way in and out!LIVING ROOMA warm white by Sherwin-Williams complements the original stone floors.Stephen KarlischSofas: custom, in Vervain fabric. Seating: Alfonso Marina, in Pierre Freyand Fox Lintonfabrics.Vivid and bold, the living room design comes alive through a colorful carpet, highlighted by a striking snake-patterned centerpiece designed by a tattoo artist. The Picasso to the right of the fireplace went missing, but was thankfully found and now has a place of prominence.KITCHENClever storage solutions are packed in this European-inspired kitchen.Stephen KarlischRange: La Cornue. Backsplash and Countertops: Aria Stone Gallery. Runner: vintage, Black Sheep Unique. Island Pendants: Urban Electric. Island: DeVOL.  Stephen KarlischLight fixture: Vintage. Dining table: Vintage. Dining chairs: Gregorius Pineo with Pierre Frey fabric.  A prep island by Devol provides easy access to dinnerware stored behind glass doors. It’s finished with an aged copper countertop that sets off the beveled white oak herringbone floor. New herringbone wood floors add a built-in patina to this newly created kitchen. The breakfast room chairs are upholstered in Pierre Frey fabric that Stacey treated with a wipeable vinyl coating. Pendants: The Urban Electric Co.WET BARA convenient bar for entertaining in the main living space. Stephen KarlischSconces: Allied Maker. Stools: Paul Ferrante, in Kelly Wearstler fabric. Table Lamp: Sunday Shop. Wanting an option to entertain in the main house, the homeowners asked Stacey for a bar with seating and room for their collection of cocktail glasses. A mirrored backdrop adds shine and glamour while bouncing light around the room. DINING ROOMContemporary and vintage pieces make this dining room memorable.Stephen Karlisch Dining chairs: Gregorius Pineo, in Moore & Giles leather. Chandelier: custom, Apparatus Studio. Rug: Christopher Farr.In the dining room, an eclectic mix of furniture and accessories meld into a one-of-a-kind entertaining scene. The mismatched Venetian mirrors were won at an auction, the bust of David originally sat outside in the flower beds, and the painting was found online. OWNER'S SUITEA bedroom bathed in rich green sets the scene for a luxurious, serene escape.Stephen KarlischPaint color: Chimichurri by Benjamin Moore. Wallcovering: Porter Teleo. Bedframe and fabric: Alfonso Marina.Stephen KarlischLight fixture: Fortuny. Sofa: Vintage, recovered in House of Hackney fabric. Trunk: Vintage, Louis Vuitton. Inspired by kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with metallic lacquer, the Porter Teleo wallcovering sets the palette for this room. Yards of Fortuny fabric give the Alfonso Marina bed a regal air. The vintage sofa is reupholstered in a luxurious House of Hackney textile, featuring a bold, substantial trim detail.BATHROOMLavish stone and custom flooring create a one-of-a-kind en-suite.Stephen KarlischStone: Aria Stone Gallery. Vanity: Custom. Fixtures: Watermark. Sconces: Apparatus Studio.A custom terrazzo floor by Marble Buro grounds this space. Its unique coloration and less organic structure allow the marble backsplash and elaborate custom wood-carved mirrors, meant to mimic Black Forest-style design, to take center stage.Stephen KarlischStacey originally wanted the marble book-matched, but when her fabricator said the slabs weren’t symmetrical, they decided to rotate each one 180°, creating a consistently random design with even veining. Bench: custom.LAUNDRY ROOMThis utilitarian space is full of natural light. Stephen KarlischPaint: Stone Blue, Farrow & Ball. Wallpaper: Botanica Claustra by Papier Francais. Backsplash: Zia Tile. Curtain fabric: Clarence House.Papier Français partnered with Bibliothèque Nationale de France to bring back more than 60 archival prints, including this Bon factory flowering-trellis wallpaper, which turns this utilitarian space into a year-round spring jewel box. THE DRESSING ROOM The "closet" was quickly expanded to feel more like a boutique retail space.Stephen KarlischCeiling wallpaper: Gracie. Light fixture: Visual Comfort. Sofas: Mr. Brown in De la Cuona fabric and Samuel & Sons trim. Carpet: Nourison. Pillows: Dedar. Library ladder: Alaco. Hardware: Armac Martin.Stephen KarlischPaint color: Brinjal by Farrow & Ball. Hardware: Armac Martin.The entire main house and garage renovation began with a closet redesign. Stacey came to assess the closet, cataloging everything from long- and short-hang sections to shoes and bags, and it quickly became clear the space was too small. This discovery sparked the decision to expand and elevate the closet...and set the stage for a full home transformation.SAUNAThe ultimate in-home spa experience. Stephen KarlischA discreet sauna is the preferred spot to recover after a night of dancing. About the DesignerSarah Stacey is known for her artful approach to layering, creating spaces that balance timeless elegance with a fresh, eclectic edge. Raised in Louisiana and influenced by antique auctions, Southern cities, and global travel, her style embraces bold contrasts and personal storytelling. With a background in studio art and interior design from LSU, she brings a vibrant, collected sensibility to both residential and commercial projects. Now based in Texas with her musician husband and their son, Sarah’s work is infused with the same energy and joy that defines her life.SHOP THE SPACEFarrow & Ball Stone Blue Paint Colorat Farrow & BallItalian Venetian Murano Blue Glass Chandelierat 1stDibsLa Cornue Cornu Fé 110 Range Matte Blackat Williams SonomaCredit: Williams SonomaPablo Picasso LithographNow 20% Offat 1stDibs
    #dopamine #decor #speakeasy #entrance #define
    “Dopamine Decor” and a Speakeasy Entrance Define This Texas Renovation
    Not every client has a firm grasp on their priorities when starting a project, but the marching orders from one Central Texas couple were abundantly clear: They wanted to convert a classic car garage on their estate into a dance hall and speakeasy, creating their own social sanctuary. After enlisting designer Sarah Stacey to bring their vision to life, that “simple” project quickly catapulted into a four-year, all-encompassing design journey when the pair added the renovation of their 4,900-square-foot primary home into the scope. It was during this time that Stacey, an avid auction enthusiast, shared her passion and expertise with her clients. “Walking through auction previews is thrilling—you wonder who owned the items and how they were used. You can feel the history,” she explains. “New homes need stories; we can design an entire room around a piece. Plus, you can save a lot of money at these events.”But before the bidding wars came planning. Stacey reimagined the space that once housed the former owner’s car collection as a moody billiards club, replete with plenty of lounge seating, a full bar salvaged from a Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and vintage collectibles, including an original Jimi Hendrix guitar. To separate the dance hall from the speakeasy, she cleverly utilized an iconic British telephone booth as the secret entrance from one area to the other. A simple push of the back wall gets you in—if you know there’s a door, that is. This is a dopamine interior.... It’s immersive and just makes you happy.For the main house, the objective was to embrace the home’s original Mediterranean style, but amplify it with a series of thoughtful selections. Stacey meticulously evaluated “every single Sherwin-Williams white” to find the ideal buttery color for the main living areas, incorporated 200-year-old salvaged wood beams, and designed the laundry room in the spirit of a French garden, complete with an undercounter striped sink skirt worthy of a Parisian café.She then set out to blend old-world charm—like the lavishly draped canopy bed in the primary suite—with contemporary pieces, such as large-scale pendants and multitiered chandeliers. The overall design is enhanced by colorful carpets, including a striking snake pattern in the living room and a hand-tufted graphic rug in the dining area. Auction house wins, antique treasures, and Parisian flea-market finds complete this unexpected and unconventional Texas haven.FAST FACTSDesigner: Sarah Stacey Interior DesignLocation: Central TexasThe Space: A garage-turned-speakeasy with a dance hall and a 4,900 sq ft main house with 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, a dressing room, sauna, and wet bar. SPEAKEASYThe former garage transformed into a go-to party hub.Stephen KarlischWallpaper: Phillip Jeffries. Sconces: Visual Comfort. Bar Stools: Nior. Armchairs: Hickory Chair. Coffee table: Sunpan. Drink Tables: Robert James. The bar is from a Ruth’s Chris restaurant and has become the heart of the space. It’s where friends and family naturally gather, often ending the night belting out karaoke songs, tipsy and totally in the moment.Stephen KarlischStephen KarlischThe husband won the six Orgy lithographs by Picasso at an online auction and Stacey hired artist Elisa Gomez to paint the frames. One of the standout features above the bar table is an original Jimi Hendrix guitar—a striking tribute to the rock 'n' roll legend. A custom tufted banquette in Schumacher fabric sits alongside Robert James café tables and under Hinkley pendants for the ultimate lounge experience.Stephen KarlischSeating: Hickory Chair. Coffee table: vintage. Rug: vintage, EtsyA cozy corner of the room is designed for dance breaks, providing plentiful options where guests can sit and take five. A framed archival photograph of Jimi Hendrix features a guitar that the couple purchased for their own collection. Stephen KarlischA British telephone booth gets recast as the secret entrance between the speakeasy and dance hall. See Stacey's go-to formula for a memorable entrance below. Create your own one-of-a-kind entrance like designer Sarah StaceyFind something that resonates with you. Stacey’s clients considered a Coca-Cola machine but fell in love with this phone booth.In this case, the designer brought on a contractor to remove the back of the booth and then cleverly recreate it as a hidden door.Keep it simple with a wall panel that pushes open, or go elaborate with an engineer-approved coded release—just type in the numbers and voilà!Always make sure there’s a manual way in and out!LIVING ROOMA warm white by Sherwin-Williams complements the original stone floors.Stephen KarlischSofas: custom, in Vervain fabric. Seating: Alfonso Marina, in Pierre Freyand Fox Lintonfabrics.Vivid and bold, the living room design comes alive through a colorful carpet, highlighted by a striking snake-patterned centerpiece designed by a tattoo artist. The Picasso to the right of the fireplace went missing, but was thankfully found and now has a place of prominence.KITCHENClever storage solutions are packed in this European-inspired kitchen.Stephen KarlischRange: La Cornue. Backsplash and Countertops: Aria Stone Gallery. Runner: vintage, Black Sheep Unique. Island Pendants: Urban Electric. Island: DeVOL.  Stephen KarlischLight fixture: Vintage. Dining table: Vintage. Dining chairs: Gregorius Pineo with Pierre Frey fabric.  A prep island by Devol provides easy access to dinnerware stored behind glass doors. It’s finished with an aged copper countertop that sets off the beveled white oak herringbone floor. New herringbone wood floors add a built-in patina to this newly created kitchen. The breakfast room chairs are upholstered in Pierre Frey fabric that Stacey treated with a wipeable vinyl coating. Pendants: The Urban Electric Co.WET BARA convenient bar for entertaining in the main living space. Stephen KarlischSconces: Allied Maker. Stools: Paul Ferrante, in Kelly Wearstler fabric. Table Lamp: Sunday Shop. Wanting an option to entertain in the main house, the homeowners asked Stacey for a bar with seating and room for their collection of cocktail glasses. A mirrored backdrop adds shine and glamour while bouncing light around the room. DINING ROOMContemporary and vintage pieces make this dining room memorable.Stephen Karlisch Dining chairs: Gregorius Pineo, in Moore & Giles leather. Chandelier: custom, Apparatus Studio. Rug: Christopher Farr.In the dining room, an eclectic mix of furniture and accessories meld into a one-of-a-kind entertaining scene. The mismatched Venetian mirrors were won at an auction, the bust of David originally sat outside in the flower beds, and the painting was found online. OWNER'S SUITEA bedroom bathed in rich green sets the scene for a luxurious, serene escape.Stephen KarlischPaint color: Chimichurri by Benjamin Moore. Wallcovering: Porter Teleo. Bedframe and fabric: Alfonso Marina.Stephen KarlischLight fixture: Fortuny. Sofa: Vintage, recovered in House of Hackney fabric. Trunk: Vintage, Louis Vuitton. Inspired by kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with metallic lacquer, the Porter Teleo wallcovering sets the palette for this room. Yards of Fortuny fabric give the Alfonso Marina bed a regal air. The vintage sofa is reupholstered in a luxurious House of Hackney textile, featuring a bold, substantial trim detail.BATHROOMLavish stone and custom flooring create a one-of-a-kind en-suite.Stephen KarlischStone: Aria Stone Gallery. Vanity: Custom. Fixtures: Watermark. Sconces: Apparatus Studio.A custom terrazzo floor by Marble Buro grounds this space. Its unique coloration and less organic structure allow the marble backsplash and elaborate custom wood-carved mirrors, meant to mimic Black Forest-style design, to take center stage.Stephen KarlischStacey originally wanted the marble book-matched, but when her fabricator said the slabs weren’t symmetrical, they decided to rotate each one 180°, creating a consistently random design with even veining. Bench: custom.LAUNDRY ROOMThis utilitarian space is full of natural light. Stephen KarlischPaint: Stone Blue, Farrow & Ball. Wallpaper: Botanica Claustra by Papier Francais. Backsplash: Zia Tile. Curtain fabric: Clarence House.Papier Français partnered with Bibliothèque Nationale de France to bring back more than 60 archival prints, including this Bon factory flowering-trellis wallpaper, which turns this utilitarian space into a year-round spring jewel box. THE DRESSING ROOM The "closet" was quickly expanded to feel more like a boutique retail space.Stephen KarlischCeiling wallpaper: Gracie. Light fixture: Visual Comfort. Sofas: Mr. Brown in De la Cuona fabric and Samuel & Sons trim. Carpet: Nourison. Pillows: Dedar. Library ladder: Alaco. Hardware: Armac Martin.Stephen KarlischPaint color: Brinjal by Farrow & Ball. Hardware: Armac Martin.The entire main house and garage renovation began with a closet redesign. Stacey came to assess the closet, cataloging everything from long- and short-hang sections to shoes and bags, and it quickly became clear the space was too small. This discovery sparked the decision to expand and elevate the closet...and set the stage for a full home transformation.SAUNAThe ultimate in-home spa experience. Stephen KarlischA discreet sauna is the preferred spot to recover after a night of dancing. About the DesignerSarah Stacey is known for her artful approach to layering, creating spaces that balance timeless elegance with a fresh, eclectic edge. Raised in Louisiana and influenced by antique auctions, Southern cities, and global travel, her style embraces bold contrasts and personal storytelling. With a background in studio art and interior design from LSU, she brings a vibrant, collected sensibility to both residential and commercial projects. Now based in Texas with her musician husband and their son, Sarah’s work is infused with the same energy and joy that defines her life.SHOP THE SPACEFarrow & Ball Stone Blue Paint Colorat Farrow & BallItalian Venetian Murano Blue Glass Chandelierat 1stDibsLa Cornue Cornu Fé 110 Range Matte Blackat Williams SonomaCredit: Williams SonomaPablo Picasso LithographNow 20% Offat 1stDibs #dopamine #decor #speakeasy #entrance #define
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    “Dopamine Decor” and a Speakeasy Entrance Define This Texas Renovation
    Not every client has a firm grasp on their priorities when starting a project, but the marching orders from one Central Texas couple were abundantly clear: They wanted to convert a classic car garage on their estate into a dance hall and speakeasy, creating their own social sanctuary. After enlisting designer Sarah Stacey to bring their vision to life, that “simple” project quickly catapulted into a four-year, all-encompassing design journey when the pair added the renovation of their 4,900-square-foot primary home into the scope. It was during this time that Stacey, an avid auction enthusiast, shared her passion and expertise with her clients. “Walking through auction previews is thrilling—you wonder who owned the items and how they were used. You can feel the history,” she explains. “New homes need stories; we can design an entire room around a piece. Plus, you can save a lot of money at these events.”But before the bidding wars came planning. Stacey reimagined the space that once housed the former owner’s car collection as a moody billiards club, replete with plenty of lounge seating, a full bar salvaged from a Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and vintage collectibles, including an original Jimi Hendrix guitar. To separate the dance hall from the speakeasy, she cleverly utilized an iconic British telephone booth as the secret entrance from one area to the other. A simple push of the back wall gets you in—if you know there’s a door, that is. This is a dopamine interior.... It’s immersive and just makes you happy.For the main house, the objective was to embrace the home’s original Mediterranean style, but amplify it with a series of thoughtful selections. Stacey meticulously evaluated “every single Sherwin-Williams white” to find the ideal buttery color for the main living areas (Casa Blanca, Sherwin-Williams), incorporated 200-year-old salvaged wood beams, and designed the laundry room in the spirit of a French garden, complete with an undercounter striped sink skirt worthy of a Parisian café.She then set out to blend old-world charm—like the lavishly draped canopy bed in the primary suite—with contemporary pieces, such as large-scale pendants and multitiered chandeliers. The overall design is enhanced by colorful carpets, including a striking snake pattern in the living room and a hand-tufted graphic rug in the dining area. Auction house wins, antique treasures, and Parisian flea-market finds complete this unexpected and unconventional Texas haven.FAST FACTSDesigner: Sarah Stacey Interior DesignLocation: Central TexasThe Space: A garage-turned-speakeasy with a dance hall and a 4,900 sq ft main house with 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, a dressing room, sauna, and wet bar. SPEAKEASYThe former garage transformed into a go-to party hub.Stephen KarlischWallpaper: Phillip Jeffries. Sconces: Visual Comfort. Bar Stools: Nior. Armchairs: Hickory Chair. Coffee table: Sunpan. Drink Tables: Robert James. The bar is from a Ruth’s Chris restaurant and has become the heart of the space. It’s where friends and family naturally gather, often ending the night belting out karaoke songs, tipsy and totally in the moment.Stephen KarlischStephen KarlischThe husband won the six Orgy lithographs by Picasso at an online auction and Stacey hired artist Elisa Gomez to paint the frames. One of the standout features above the bar table is an original Jimi Hendrix guitar—a striking tribute to the rock 'n' roll legend. A custom tufted banquette in Schumacher fabric sits alongside Robert James café tables and under Hinkley pendants for the ultimate lounge experience.Stephen KarlischSeating: Hickory Chair. Coffee table: vintage. Rug: vintage, EtsyA cozy corner of the room is designed for dance breaks, providing plentiful options where guests can sit and take five. A framed archival photograph of Jimi Hendrix features a guitar that the couple purchased for their own collection. Stephen KarlischA British telephone booth gets recast as the secret entrance between the speakeasy and dance hall. See Stacey's go-to formula for a memorable entrance below. Create your own one-of-a-kind entrance like designer Sarah StaceyFind something that resonates with you. Stacey’s clients considered a Coca-Cola machine but fell in love with this phone booth.In this case, the designer brought on a contractor to remove the back of the booth and then cleverly recreate it as a hidden door.Keep it simple with a wall panel that pushes open, or go elaborate with an engineer-approved coded release—just type in the numbers and voilà!Always make sure there’s a manual way in and out!LIVING ROOMA warm white by Sherwin-Williams complements the original stone floors.Stephen KarlischSofas: custom, in Vervain fabric. Seating: Alfonso Marina, in Pierre Frey (chairs) and Fox Linton (bench) fabrics.Vivid and bold, the living room design comes alive through a colorful carpet, highlighted by a striking snake-patterned centerpiece designed by a tattoo artist. The Picasso to the right of the fireplace went missing, but was thankfully found and now has a place of prominence.KITCHENClever storage solutions are packed in this European-inspired kitchen.Stephen KarlischRange: La Cornue. Backsplash and Countertops: Aria Stone Gallery. Runner: vintage, Black Sheep Unique. Island Pendants: Urban Electric. Island: DeVOL.  Stephen KarlischLight fixture: Vintage. Dining table: Vintage. Dining chairs: Gregorius Pineo with Pierre Frey fabric.  A prep island by Devol provides easy access to dinnerware stored behind glass doors. It’s finished with an aged copper countertop that sets off the beveled white oak herringbone floor. New herringbone wood floors add a built-in patina to this newly created kitchen. The breakfast room chairs are upholstered in Pierre Frey fabric that Stacey treated with a wipeable vinyl coating. Pendants: The Urban Electric Co.WET BARA convenient bar for entertaining in the main living space. Stephen KarlischSconces: Allied Maker. Stools: Paul Ferrante, in Kelly Wearstler fabric. Table Lamp: Sunday Shop. Wanting an option to entertain in the main house, the homeowners asked Stacey for a bar with seating and room for their collection of cocktail glasses. A mirrored backdrop adds shine and glamour while bouncing light around the room. DINING ROOMContemporary and vintage pieces make this dining room memorable.Stephen Karlisch Dining chairs: Gregorius Pineo, in Moore & Giles leather. Chandelier: custom, Apparatus Studio. Rug: Christopher Farr.In the dining room, an eclectic mix of furniture and accessories meld into a one-of-a-kind entertaining scene. The mismatched Venetian mirrors were won at an auction, the bust of David originally sat outside in the flower beds, and the painting was found online. OWNER'S SUITEA bedroom bathed in rich green sets the scene for a luxurious, serene escape.Stephen KarlischPaint color: Chimichurri by Benjamin Moore. Wallcovering: Porter Teleo. Bedframe and fabric: Alfonso Marina.Stephen KarlischLight fixture: Fortuny. Sofa: Vintage, recovered in House of Hackney fabric. Trunk: Vintage, Louis Vuitton. Inspired by kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with metallic lacquer, the Porter Teleo wallcovering sets the palette for this room. Yards of Fortuny fabric give the Alfonso Marina bed a regal air. The vintage sofa is reupholstered in a luxurious House of Hackney textile, featuring a bold, substantial trim detail.BATHROOMLavish stone and custom flooring create a one-of-a-kind en-suite.Stephen KarlischStone: Aria Stone Gallery. Vanity: Custom. Fixtures: Watermark. Sconces: Apparatus Studio.A custom terrazzo floor by Marble Buro grounds this space. Its unique coloration and less organic structure allow the marble backsplash and elaborate custom wood-carved mirrors, meant to mimic Black Forest-style design, to take center stage.Stephen KarlischStacey originally wanted the marble book-matched, but when her fabricator said the slabs weren’t symmetrical, they decided to rotate each one 180°, creating a consistently random design with even veining. Bench: custom.LAUNDRY ROOMThis utilitarian space is full of natural light. Stephen KarlischPaint: Stone Blue, Farrow & Ball. Wallpaper: Botanica Claustra by Papier Francais. Backsplash: Zia Tile. Curtain fabric: Clarence House.Papier Français partnered with Bibliothèque Nationale de France to bring back more than 60 archival prints, including this Bon factory flowering-trellis wallpaper, which turns this utilitarian space into a year-round spring jewel box. THE DRESSING ROOM The "closet" was quickly expanded to feel more like a boutique retail space.Stephen KarlischCeiling wallpaper: Gracie. Light fixture: Visual Comfort. Sofas: Mr. Brown in De la Cuona fabric and Samuel & Sons trim. Carpet: Nourison. Pillows: Dedar. Library ladder: Alaco. Hardware: Armac Martin.Stephen KarlischPaint color: Brinjal by Farrow & Ball. Hardware: Armac Martin.The entire main house and garage renovation began with a closet redesign. Stacey came to assess the closet, cataloging everything from long- and short-hang sections to shoes and bags, and it quickly became clear the space was too small. This discovery sparked the decision to expand and elevate the closet...and set the stage for a full home transformation.SAUNAThe ultimate in-home spa experience. Stephen KarlischA discreet sauna is the preferred spot to recover after a night of dancing. About the DesignerSarah Stacey is known for her artful approach to layering, creating spaces that balance timeless elegance with a fresh, eclectic edge. Raised in Louisiana and influenced by antique auctions, Southern cities, and global travel, her style embraces bold contrasts and personal storytelling. With a background in studio art and interior design from LSU, she brings a vibrant, collected sensibility to both residential and commercial projects. Now based in Texas with her musician husband and their son, Sarah’s work is infused with the same energy and joy that defines her life.SHOP THE SPACEFarrow & Ball Stone Blue Paint Color$143 at Farrow & BallItalian Venetian Murano Blue Glass Chandelier$8,250 at 1stDibsLa Cornue Cornu Fé 110 Range Matte Black$13,275 at Williams SonomaCredit: Williams SonomaPablo Picasso LithographNow 20% Off$3,000 $2,400 at 1stDibs
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  • 40 Apple TV+ Original Series You Should Be Watching

    We may earn a commission from links on this page.A surprisingly endearing sitcom about an American football coach moving to the U.K. to coach the other kind of football, Ted Lasso was Apple TV+'s first breakout hit, but it's long over by this point. While few of their other shows have commanded even a fraction of the zeitgeist, over the past few years Apple's streaming service has built a small but solid library of other original series that are at least interesting or pretty good, and occasionally more. Apple's offerings still can’t quite compare to what you’ll find on Netflix or Hulu, at least in terms of volume, but there’s enough money in the tech company's bank account that they’ve shown a willingness to experiment, particularly when it comes to high-cost genres like science fiction, and that’s not a bad thing. Here are 40 of Apple’s best original shows so far. I'm highlighting the ones you may not have binged yet, so Ted Lasso isn’t on the list—but consider him mentioned here.

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    Dark MatterJoel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, and Alice Braga star in this high-concept sci-fi thriller from the novel by Blake Crouch. Edgerton plays Jason Dessen, a former physicist living a fairly decent life with his wife, Danielain Chicago when he's drugged and kidnapped before waking up in a Chicago where he'd never married Daniela. It seems that a version of himself invented a device allowing for travel between infinite alternate universes—and that version of Jason wants the life that our Jason has, and who's now on a quest to make his way home. You can stream Dark Matter here. FoundationFoundation frequently misses the point of its source material, but that doesn’t make it any less of an impressively realized science-fiction epic on its own terms. Lou Llobel and Lee Pace lead the centuries-spanning series that sees a group of scholars and rebels working to bring down a galactic empire in order to save it. The first season was pretty great, the second season was even better, and ads for the third season look promising. You can stream Foundation here. Dope ThiefRay and Mannyare a couple of childhood friends from Philly who've been supporting themselves by impersonating DEA agents and robbing low-level stash houses in the inner city. Manny's looking to move on while Ray's eccentric mother, Theresaneeds a lot of money fast. And so, as you've probably guessed, we're about to enter "one last big score" plot territory, which, in this case, involves robbing a meth lab that is, it turns out, part of a large-scale operation that the real DEA has in its sights. The setup is nothing new, but everyone here is at the top of their game. You can stream Dope Thief here.Slow HorsesWith nods to the great spy dramas of John le Carré, Slow Horses updates the setting without losing either the thrills or the style of a time-honored genre. The “Slow Horses” of the title is a group of has-been MI5 agents—they’ve all made messes of significant jobs, but are still seen as having some use, if only in dull administrative tasks. Naturally, the groupfinds themselves in deeper waters than anyone had expected of them. The show has a sly sense of humor, and balances a cynical tone with a conviction that redemption is more than possible. You can stream Slow Horses here.SugarSugar doesn't try to obscure or downplay its reliance on old-school Hollywood noir tropes: Its characters are driven to emulate the style of antiheroes of old, and clips from old movies even play alongside the action as a means of driving the point home. The central mystery sees detective John Sugarsummoned to the mansion of a rich movie producer, whose granddaughter has gone missing. The first few episodes are intriguing, and  the premise is unique in that Sugar is kind of an anti-anti-hero—he's an actual nice guy in a world where he's expected to play the tough guy. The sixth episode, though, drops an absolutely wild, love-it-or-hate it plot twist that drives the remaining episode and, presumably, the forthcoming second season. The series comes from writer Mark Protosevichand smartly directed by City of God's Fernando Meirelles, so it has style to spare. You can stream Sugar here. PachinkoPachinko is technically an American production, but its largely South Korean cast and crew place it in very much in the wheelhouse of the K-dramas that have found success in the U.S. in recent years. The multigenerational saga follows one womanand her family from the Japanese occupation of Korea through the decades of the Korean diaspora. It’s as personal as it is epic, with better location cinematography than most movies—and it’s got an all-time great opening credits sequence. You can stream Pachinko here.Palm RoyaleKristen Wiig stars here as Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons, an endlessly inventive social climber in 1969 Palm Beach, Florida who sets out on a road to the top of the local hierarchy when she manages to nab herself a membership in the exclusive private club of the title. It's soapy and silly and occasionally over the top—which all just means that it's thoroughly entertaining and relatively stress-free. The cast here is among the best that streaming money can buy: Alongside Wiig, we get Laura Dern as a helpful hippie, Allison Janney as a demanding matriarch, Carol Burnett as mysteriouslocal royalty, and Ricky Martin as the sexy bartender. You can stream Palm Royale here. Bad SistersThe comedy/murder mystery genre is having a moment, with Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, Apple’s own The Afterparty, and the Knives Out movies all doing brisk business. Bad Sisters is in that same category, but set apart in interestingways. The Dublin setting and the dark comedy stand out, and the show is as much about solving the core murder as it is about rooting for the killer, whomever they may be. Among the title sisters, one has a particularly odious husband. When he turns up dead, each of the sistersis revealed to have had good reason for doing the job. You can stream Bad Sisters here. SeveranceLate-stage capitalism encourages “work-life balance” while simultaneously making it impossible, and then makes us feel guilty about it. In Severance, biotechnology giant Lumon Industries has a solution: They split your consciousness between your life at work and your life outside of it. For our lead charactersthe work- and home-based consciousnesses grow apart to the point that they become entirely different people. The show blends the conventions of office-based dark comedies with movies like Brazil and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and dives into the dangers of modern American-style totalitarian capitalism while providing a reminder that technology often promises to improve our lives while only making them worse. You can stream Severance here.The BuccaneersThe sassy, revisionist period dramais having a heyday and, with the success of HBO's The Gilded Age, it's only natural that things have come back around to the source—in this case, an unfinished Wharton novel telling the story of five American nouveau riche daughters being shuffled off to Europe to unitetheir family's ready cash with old European titles and lands. It's a fun, women-led show that splits the difference between The Gilded Age's relative faithfulness to history and Bridgerton's joyful anachronisms. You can stream The Buccaneers here. HijackThis solid action thriller stars Idris Elba as a business negotiator who finds himself among the passengers on a flight from London to Dubai that's been, well, hijacked. He's the only one onboard with a shot at saving himself and the other passengers, but will have to use his experience, brains, and brawn to do it. The show takes place in real time, more or less, adding to the suspense, and also making the second-season pickup slightly confusing. I'm not sure how a followup series will work, but if 24 could run for nine seasons, I'm sure that Elba's Sam Nelson can sustain at least a couple more. You can stream Hijack here. For All MankindI love a high concept—but execution is what counts, and For All Mankind makes good on its premise, thanks in large part to the involvement of writer/co-creator Ronald D. Moore. The show runs with a tantalizing "what if?": What if Soviet space pioneer Sergei Korolev hadn’t died prematurely in 1966 and instead helped bring his country’s space program to full flower, extending the space race indefinitely? If we’d been forced to continue and expand upon the space program, our pastwould look quite different, and this show dramatically imagines how that might go, jumping across decades to reveal our alternate past. A spin-off involving a Soviet space program, Star City, is in the works. You can stream For All Mankind here. DickinsonDickinson is so scrupulously weird that it gets points just for being unexpected. The most surprising thing about it, though, is that it's not merely idiosyncratic—it’s good. The show imagines the life of 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson, with the conceit that she didn’t fit especially well in her own time, a fact the show reflects through the casual use of anachronisms and more modern sensibilities. Think Netflix’s Bridgerton or Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette for similar vibes—but neither of those is about a person nearly as haunting or mysterious as Dickinson. Bonus: It’s also beautifully filmed and acted. You can stream Dickinson here.Visible: Out on TelevisionAn effective update to The Celluloid Closet that takes us up to date for the Peak TV age, Visible brings that sweet Apple money to bear in gathering an impressive assortment of talking heads. Going back to the earliest days of television, when queer characters and themes were either ignored, heavily coded, or mocked, the docuseries traces the ups and downs of queer representation on TV right up until the present moment. It entertainingly documents how far we’ve come, and makes clear there’s still work to do. You can stream Visible here. ManhuntBased on James L. Swanson’s book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, Manhunt reenactsnot just the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth, but the hours, months, and years that followed, examining the political and cultural fallout at the dawn of Reconstruction. The surprising star here is Tobias Menzies' Edwin Stanton, the war secretary who fought to preserve Lincoln's legacy, with mixed results. The show also offers strong parallels, intentional or not, between Booth—violently racist, bombastic, and vainglorious while also somehow a perpetual victim—and modern-day political figures with whom you might be familiar. You can stream Manhunt here. The Last Thing He Told MeCritics and audiences are divided over The Last Thing He Told Me, the crime drama earning only mixed reviews while also ranking as the streamer's most watched limited series ever. Based on the bestseller by Laura Dave, the popularity of the book might have something to do with that, as might Jennifer Garner's sensitive performance. While it scored those impressive numbers as a limited series, the series has subsequently been renewed for a new season, to be based on a forthcoming sequel novel, currently scheduled for release in 2025. Co-starring Angourie Rice, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and David Morse, the series finds Garner's character trying to forge a bond with her stepdaughter in order to help solve the mystery of her missing husband. You can stream The Last Thing He Told Me here.Monarch: Legacy of MonstersMonarch does a surprisingly effective job of telling its own story within the universe of all those American Godzilla movies of the past decade or so, bringing those big stories back down to Earth while building out an entire monster-verse mythology in the process. Anna Sawai stars as a young teacher searching for her father, missing since Godzilla's attack on San Francisco, and finds herself drawn into the past and present of a secret government agency. Wyatt and Kurt Russell play the past and present incarnations of the Army colonel who helped set the whole thing in motion. You can stream Monarch here.SeeThe pitch meeting for this must’ve been a hoot. “We’ll do ‘The Country of the Blind’—but, you know, in the future!” Just as in that H.G. Wells story, we learn here that being one of the only sighted people among the blind doesn’t necessarily grant you any special privileges. A few centuries from now, humans have lost their senses of sight, and the few born sighted are hunted and despised. As high concepts go, it’s a little goofy, but the beautifully produced and entertaining show blends Game of Thrones vibes with dystopian sci-fi, and boasts Jason Momoa and the always brilliant Alfre Woodard. You can stream See here.Central ParkCentral Park, from creators Loren Bouchard, Josh Gad, and Nora Smith, retains much of the look and feel of Bouchard’s belovedBob’s Burgers, which is probably enough of a recommendation to get many adult-leaning cartoon fans onboard. It differs, though, in its ambition: Unlike Bob’s, this show invests more heavily in serialization to tell the story of a park manager fighting to save the titular Central Park from greedy developers. It’s also a true musical, incorporating big numbers into each and every episode.You can stream Central Park here.SiloThe casts of many of these shows are pretty extraordinary, but this one is at least a small step above: Rebecca Ferguson, Rashida Jones, David Oyelowo, Common, and Tim Robbins are all included in the main cast. The science fiction series, based on High Howey’s self-published sensation Wool, is set in a post-apocalyptic future; the show’s characters live in the 144-story silo of the title, a sealed environment sustainingthe last dregs of humanity. Societal politics blend with elements of mysteryin an impressively conceived dystopia; the series is set to conclude, but not before two further seasons are produced. You can stream Silo here. Schmigadoon!There’s a big theater-kid vibe to Schmigadoon, no question, with references and in-jokes not everyone is going to get. I’m not sure it matters. When Melissaand Joshset out on a camping trip to strengthen their relationship, they instead stumble into the title town, where everyone sings their feelings, just like characters in a... you get it. The only way out? True love—which Melissa and Josh thought they already shared, but maybe not so much. It’s both a tribute to classic musicals and a satire of the common tropes and the more problematic aspects of those old productions. The second season switches location and eras to “Schmicago,” taking on the darker-tinged musicals of the 1970s. You can stream Schmigadoon here. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick TurpinThe Great British Bake Off's Noel Fielding stars in this wildly ahistorical British import involving the real-life highwayman of the title, who lived in the mid-1700s. Truth and legend are impossible to sort out when it comes to Turpin, so the show defers to the legend, adding a bunch of inspired silliness to the mix. It's not quite Our Flag Means Death, but it takes a similarly loose and fun approach to history. The well-received show shut down for good during production of a second season, under slightly mysterious circumstances, but the existing season is still worth a run. You can stream Dick Turpin here.Masters of the AirA spiritual successor and companion to earlier WWII minis Band of Brothersand The Pacific, Masters of the Air focuses on the “Bloody Hundredth,” the 100th Bomb Group—pilots tasked with bombing targets inside German-occupied Europe. Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, and Ncuti Gatwaare part of the impressive ensemble. You can stream Masters of the Air here.ConstellationSeverance, Foundation, For All Mankind, and Silo have established Apple TV+ as a home for high-concept, big-ish budget science fiction. Which is cool, given that even the SyFy channel is't filling that niche anymore. This one finds astronaut Noomi Rapace returning to Earth after an accident, and discovering that the reality she's returned to isn't quite the same as the one she left behind. You can stream Constellation here.Criminal RecordThe apparently IRL-delightful Peter Capaldi is one of our most effortlessly menacing actors, imbuing even The Doctor with an unpredictable inscrutability, so it's no surprise that he excels at playing a hardened police detective with a checkered past. He's joined here by Cush Jumbo's June Lenker, a by-the-book and far more idealistic detective who's as suspicious of Capaldi's DCI Hegarty as she is of the facts involving the cold case the pair are investigating. Think of them like a twisted version of Mulder and Scully. You can stream Criminal Record here.The Morning ShowLess high-concept than some of Apple’s other originals, The Morning Show still serves as a solid drama led by an out-of-character performance from Jennifer Aniston. She plays Alex Levy, co-host of a major network morning show. “Co-host,” that is, until Mitch, with whom she’s worked for 15 years, is fired due to sexual misconduct shortly before the show goes on the air one morning, leaving Alex to explain the situation. The resulting shake-ups and power grabswere inspired by Brian Stelter’s real-life book Top of the Morning, about thesurprisingly dramatic and cutthroat world of morning television, so with the TV-ready drama comes an air of verisimilitude. You can stream The Morning Show here. The Me That You Can’t SeeAn Oprah Winfrey/Prince Harry co-production might inspire understandable cynicism, but the effort here is worthwhile: Approaching both stars and non-celebrities, the miniseries explores issues related to mental health, particularly the stigma and difficulties in finding care. The celebs are all impressively frank, and the less-famous individuals come from a wide array of backgrounds and face a diverse set of issues. Naturally, the presentation is highly polished, but the mere fact that the streamer is putting its money into expanding conversations about mental illness make it worth checking out. You can stream The Me That You Can't See here.Truth Be ToldHonestly, they had me at Octavia Spencer. It’s not just her, though: The cast here is uniformly first-rate. The premise is also solid, and timely: Spencer plays a true-crime podcaster who condemned a now-convicted killer with her reporting, but who now learns that she might have gotten some crucial details wrong. The execution stumbles a bit in the first season, but picks up in the second and into its concluding third. You can stream Truth Be Told here.The AfterpartyAt a high school reunion afterparty, a murder occurs that, naturally, sets the series in motion—a scenario rife with possibilities, given the dramas that swirl around any real-life reunion. The spin here on the comedy murder mystery is its Rashomon-like structure: Each episode explores the night from the POV of one of the participants, shifting genre styles to suit the character in question. Tiffany Haddish and Sam Richardson are great as the leads. You can stream The Afterparty here.Little AmericaWith a sense of humor, the anthology Little America dramatizes a series of Epic Magazine pieces telling the stories of immigrants in America. Each 30-minute episode plays like a movie in miniature, and each is packed with emotion—sometimes heartbreak, often joy. Seriously, they cram a lot of heart into these little episodes. Each one ends with a tag about the real people on which it is based, which serves to ground the emotion in reality. You can stream Little America here.Home Before DarkI love, love, love that this one’s based on a true story. Home Before Dark dramatizes the story of Hilde Lysiak, award-winning crime reporter and the youngest member of the Society of Professional Journalists, who began her career at age nine. Here she’s fictionalized as Hilde Lisko, who moves with her mother to a Twin Peaks-esque coastal town where she slowly, doggedly, uncovers the truth behind a long-forgotten cold case. You can stream Home Before Dark here.ServantCreepy nanny meets creepy doll in this utterly strange psychological thriller, co-executive-produced by the occasionally brilliant but notoriously inconsistent M. Night Shyamalan. The horror here isn’t really overt, but the show plays some interesting and disturbing games centered on the relationship of the lead couple, played by Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell. Following the death of their 13-week-old son, the pair acquires a lifelike doll as a therapeutic tool. Naturally, something’s not quite right with the doll, and something’s definitely not right about the young live-in nanny who they hireto take care of fake baby Jericho. You can stream Servant here.GhostwriterThis new, updated Ghostwriter goes in a different direction than the ‘90s-era original, focusing a little bit less on the mystery elements of the stories and more on reading fundamentals. Operating out of a bookstore belonging to the grandfather of two of the main characters, four kids are brought together by a ghost who brings characters from classic and modern literature to life, with CGI that’s sometimes great —and sometimes less so. Where the show really shines is in its depiction of kids who are believably smart and savvy, unlike an awful lot of shows that can’t seem to tell the difference between a 12-year-old and a fivr-year-old. It’s definitely for kids, but that’s to its credit. You can stream Ghostwriter here.Defending JacobBased on the book by William Landay, this one’s premise is clever, and harrowing: In an upper-class Massachusetts suburb, Andyand Laurielearn that a classmate of their 14-year-old son has been murdered in a local park. What happens next is even more shocking: their son is arrested for the murder. The show sometimes leans unnecessarily into melodrama, but the performances are solid and the central mystery is so compelling, it’s hard not to get drawn in. You can stream Defending Jacob here.Black BirdNovelist Dennis Lehanedeveloped the based-on-a-true-story miniseries, and his touch is evident if you’re familiar with his books, or with the movies they’ve inspired. Taron Egerton plays Jimmy Keene, a former football star given a 10-year prison sentence for drug dealing. Before long, he’s given another shot: His sentence will be erased if he transfers to a much higher security prison for the criminally insane and gathers evidence against a suspected serial killer incarcerated there. That’s a killer premise, and Egerton is great here. You can stream Black Bird here.TryingAfter having difficulty conceiving a child, Nikki and Jason begin the adoption process, and find themselves in a bind. Were they able to conceive, there’d be no other qualifications necessary to have a baby. Adoption, on the other hand, is long process full of screenings, classes, paperwork, home visits, and money. This is one of those rare comedies that’s both genuinely funny and gentle—the show even revisits all of its characters at the end of each episode so that we know how everyone has made out. You can stream Trying here. Mythic QuestIt might sound a littleniche, but we’ve seen enough headlines about the working conditions at many video game production houses to understand why a workplace comedy set against such a backdrop would make for effectively dark and juicy comedy. Charlotte Nicdao and Rob McElhenney are the leads here, as a brilliant and driven workaholic and an unsociable egomaniac respectively, and the chemistry between their two characters give the show more than enough spark. There's also a four episode spin-off: Side Quest. You can stream Mythic Quest here. AcapulcoInspired by the 2017 film How to Be a Latin Lover, the ambitious English/Spanish-language comedy spans generations in telling the story of Maximo Gallardo Ramos, a Malibu mogul who began life as a pool boy at a fancy resort hotel. The sweet, sun-drenched show has a gorgeously retro visual style. You can stream Acapulco here. DisclaimerCreated, written, and directed by four-time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón, Disclaimer has as impressive a pedigree as you could hope for on streaming TV: It stars Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, alongside Sacha Baron Cohen and Leila George. Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, an award-winning journalist who receives a mysterious manuscript—it's a novel in which she, herself, appears to be the main character, and which reveals secrets of her past that she thought were long buried. Cuarón moves deliberately through a story that takes its time, even as each episode shifts through points of view and timelines to offer up consistent and impressive surprises. You can stream Disclaimer here. The StudioIndustry exec Matt Remickloves movies, and when he signs on for a high-profile role at the fictional Continental Studios, he's feeling like his time has come, like he can make a real difference in fixing an increasingly IP-driven movie industry. That is, until about a minute into his new job when the CEOlets him know that his first job will be marketing Kool-Aid Man, a thin attempt to rip off the success of Barbie. Hollywood satires of yore have focused on the industry as one that eats people up and spits them out, but the spin here is that Remick yearns for those days. This very funny, often intentionally cringe, comedy finds Hollywood in a state of decline and focuses on a man who'd love nothing more than to rebuild the movie industry of old. Catherine O'Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, and Kathryn Hahn also star, and the show boasts a seemingly endless list of celebrity cameos. You can stream The Studio here.
    #apple #original #series #you #should
    40 Apple TV+ Original Series You Should Be Watching
    We may earn a commission from links on this page.A surprisingly endearing sitcom about an American football coach moving to the U.K. to coach the other kind of football, Ted Lasso was Apple TV+'s first breakout hit, but it's long over by this point. While few of their other shows have commanded even a fraction of the zeitgeist, over the past few years Apple's streaming service has built a small but solid library of other original series that are at least interesting or pretty good, and occasionally more. Apple's offerings still can’t quite compare to what you’ll find on Netflix or Hulu, at least in terms of volume, but there’s enough money in the tech company's bank account that they’ve shown a willingness to experiment, particularly when it comes to high-cost genres like science fiction, and that’s not a bad thing. Here are 40 of Apple’s best original shows so far. I'm highlighting the ones you may not have binged yet, so Ted Lasso isn’t on the list—but consider him mentioned here. Apple TV+ Per Month at AppleTV+ Learn More Learn More Per Month at AppleTV+ Dark MatterJoel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, and Alice Braga star in this high-concept sci-fi thriller from the novel by Blake Crouch. Edgerton plays Jason Dessen, a former physicist living a fairly decent life with his wife, Danielain Chicago when he's drugged and kidnapped before waking up in a Chicago where he'd never married Daniela. It seems that a version of himself invented a device allowing for travel between infinite alternate universes—and that version of Jason wants the life that our Jason has, and who's now on a quest to make his way home. You can stream Dark Matter here. FoundationFoundation frequently misses the point of its source material, but that doesn’t make it any less of an impressively realized science-fiction epic on its own terms. Lou Llobel and Lee Pace lead the centuries-spanning series that sees a group of scholars and rebels working to bring down a galactic empire in order to save it. The first season was pretty great, the second season was even better, and ads for the third season look promising. You can stream Foundation here. Dope ThiefRay and Mannyare a couple of childhood friends from Philly who've been supporting themselves by impersonating DEA agents and robbing low-level stash houses in the inner city. Manny's looking to move on while Ray's eccentric mother, Theresaneeds a lot of money fast. And so, as you've probably guessed, we're about to enter "one last big score" plot territory, which, in this case, involves robbing a meth lab that is, it turns out, part of a large-scale operation that the real DEA has in its sights. The setup is nothing new, but everyone here is at the top of their game. You can stream Dope Thief here.Slow HorsesWith nods to the great spy dramas of John le Carré, Slow Horses updates the setting without losing either the thrills or the style of a time-honored genre. The “Slow Horses” of the title is a group of has-been MI5 agents—they’ve all made messes of significant jobs, but are still seen as having some use, if only in dull administrative tasks. Naturally, the groupfinds themselves in deeper waters than anyone had expected of them. The show has a sly sense of humor, and balances a cynical tone with a conviction that redemption is more than possible. You can stream Slow Horses here.SugarSugar doesn't try to obscure or downplay its reliance on old-school Hollywood noir tropes: Its characters are driven to emulate the style of antiheroes of old, and clips from old movies even play alongside the action as a means of driving the point home. The central mystery sees detective John Sugarsummoned to the mansion of a rich movie producer, whose granddaughter has gone missing. The first few episodes are intriguing, and  the premise is unique in that Sugar is kind of an anti-anti-hero—he's an actual nice guy in a world where he's expected to play the tough guy. The sixth episode, though, drops an absolutely wild, love-it-or-hate it plot twist that drives the remaining episode and, presumably, the forthcoming second season. The series comes from writer Mark Protosevichand smartly directed by City of God's Fernando Meirelles, so it has style to spare. You can stream Sugar here. PachinkoPachinko is technically an American production, but its largely South Korean cast and crew place it in very much in the wheelhouse of the K-dramas that have found success in the U.S. in recent years. The multigenerational saga follows one womanand her family from the Japanese occupation of Korea through the decades of the Korean diaspora. It’s as personal as it is epic, with better location cinematography than most movies—and it’s got an all-time great opening credits sequence. You can stream Pachinko here.Palm RoyaleKristen Wiig stars here as Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons, an endlessly inventive social climber in 1969 Palm Beach, Florida who sets out on a road to the top of the local hierarchy when she manages to nab herself a membership in the exclusive private club of the title. It's soapy and silly and occasionally over the top—which all just means that it's thoroughly entertaining and relatively stress-free. The cast here is among the best that streaming money can buy: Alongside Wiig, we get Laura Dern as a helpful hippie, Allison Janney as a demanding matriarch, Carol Burnett as mysteriouslocal royalty, and Ricky Martin as the sexy bartender. You can stream Palm Royale here. Bad SistersThe comedy/murder mystery genre is having a moment, with Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, Apple’s own The Afterparty, and the Knives Out movies all doing brisk business. Bad Sisters is in that same category, but set apart in interestingways. The Dublin setting and the dark comedy stand out, and the show is as much about solving the core murder as it is about rooting for the killer, whomever they may be. Among the title sisters, one has a particularly odious husband. When he turns up dead, each of the sistersis revealed to have had good reason for doing the job. You can stream Bad Sisters here. SeveranceLate-stage capitalism encourages “work-life balance” while simultaneously making it impossible, and then makes us feel guilty about it. In Severance, biotechnology giant Lumon Industries has a solution: They split your consciousness between your life at work and your life outside of it. For our lead charactersthe work- and home-based consciousnesses grow apart to the point that they become entirely different people. The show blends the conventions of office-based dark comedies with movies like Brazil and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and dives into the dangers of modern American-style totalitarian capitalism while providing a reminder that technology often promises to improve our lives while only making them worse. You can stream Severance here.The BuccaneersThe sassy, revisionist period dramais having a heyday and, with the success of HBO's The Gilded Age, it's only natural that things have come back around to the source—in this case, an unfinished Wharton novel telling the story of five American nouveau riche daughters being shuffled off to Europe to unitetheir family's ready cash with old European titles and lands. It's a fun, women-led show that splits the difference between The Gilded Age's relative faithfulness to history and Bridgerton's joyful anachronisms. You can stream The Buccaneers here. HijackThis solid action thriller stars Idris Elba as a business negotiator who finds himself among the passengers on a flight from London to Dubai that's been, well, hijacked. He's the only one onboard with a shot at saving himself and the other passengers, but will have to use his experience, brains, and brawn to do it. The show takes place in real time, more or less, adding to the suspense, and also making the second-season pickup slightly confusing. I'm not sure how a followup series will work, but if 24 could run for nine seasons, I'm sure that Elba's Sam Nelson can sustain at least a couple more. You can stream Hijack here. For All MankindI love a high concept—but execution is what counts, and For All Mankind makes good on its premise, thanks in large part to the involvement of writer/co-creator Ronald D. Moore. The show runs with a tantalizing "what if?": What if Soviet space pioneer Sergei Korolev hadn’t died prematurely in 1966 and instead helped bring his country’s space program to full flower, extending the space race indefinitely? If we’d been forced to continue and expand upon the space program, our pastwould look quite different, and this show dramatically imagines how that might go, jumping across decades to reveal our alternate past. A spin-off involving a Soviet space program, Star City, is in the works. You can stream For All Mankind here. DickinsonDickinson is so scrupulously weird that it gets points just for being unexpected. The most surprising thing about it, though, is that it's not merely idiosyncratic—it’s good. The show imagines the life of 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson, with the conceit that she didn’t fit especially well in her own time, a fact the show reflects through the casual use of anachronisms and more modern sensibilities. Think Netflix’s Bridgerton or Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette for similar vibes—but neither of those is about a person nearly as haunting or mysterious as Dickinson. Bonus: It’s also beautifully filmed and acted. You can stream Dickinson here.Visible: Out on TelevisionAn effective update to The Celluloid Closet that takes us up to date for the Peak TV age, Visible brings that sweet Apple money to bear in gathering an impressive assortment of talking heads. Going back to the earliest days of television, when queer characters and themes were either ignored, heavily coded, or mocked, the docuseries traces the ups and downs of queer representation on TV right up until the present moment. It entertainingly documents how far we’ve come, and makes clear there’s still work to do. You can stream Visible here. ManhuntBased on James L. Swanson’s book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, Manhunt reenactsnot just the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth, but the hours, months, and years that followed, examining the political and cultural fallout at the dawn of Reconstruction. The surprising star here is Tobias Menzies' Edwin Stanton, the war secretary who fought to preserve Lincoln's legacy, with mixed results. The show also offers strong parallels, intentional or not, between Booth—violently racist, bombastic, and vainglorious while also somehow a perpetual victim—and modern-day political figures with whom you might be familiar. You can stream Manhunt here. The Last Thing He Told MeCritics and audiences are divided over The Last Thing He Told Me, the crime drama earning only mixed reviews while also ranking as the streamer's most watched limited series ever. Based on the bestseller by Laura Dave, the popularity of the book might have something to do with that, as might Jennifer Garner's sensitive performance. While it scored those impressive numbers as a limited series, the series has subsequently been renewed for a new season, to be based on a forthcoming sequel novel, currently scheduled for release in 2025. Co-starring Angourie Rice, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and David Morse, the series finds Garner's character trying to forge a bond with her stepdaughter in order to help solve the mystery of her missing husband. You can stream The Last Thing He Told Me here.Monarch: Legacy of MonstersMonarch does a surprisingly effective job of telling its own story within the universe of all those American Godzilla movies of the past decade or so, bringing those big stories back down to Earth while building out an entire monster-verse mythology in the process. Anna Sawai stars as a young teacher searching for her father, missing since Godzilla's attack on San Francisco, and finds herself drawn into the past and present of a secret government agency. Wyatt and Kurt Russell play the past and present incarnations of the Army colonel who helped set the whole thing in motion. You can stream Monarch here.SeeThe pitch meeting for this must’ve been a hoot. “We’ll do ‘The Country of the Blind’—but, you know, in the future!” Just as in that H.G. Wells story, we learn here that being one of the only sighted people among the blind doesn’t necessarily grant you any special privileges. A few centuries from now, humans have lost their senses of sight, and the few born sighted are hunted and despised. As high concepts go, it’s a little goofy, but the beautifully produced and entertaining show blends Game of Thrones vibes with dystopian sci-fi, and boasts Jason Momoa and the always brilliant Alfre Woodard. You can stream See here.Central ParkCentral Park, from creators Loren Bouchard, Josh Gad, and Nora Smith, retains much of the look and feel of Bouchard’s belovedBob’s Burgers, which is probably enough of a recommendation to get many adult-leaning cartoon fans onboard. It differs, though, in its ambition: Unlike Bob’s, this show invests more heavily in serialization to tell the story of a park manager fighting to save the titular Central Park from greedy developers. It’s also a true musical, incorporating big numbers into each and every episode.You can stream Central Park here.SiloThe casts of many of these shows are pretty extraordinary, but this one is at least a small step above: Rebecca Ferguson, Rashida Jones, David Oyelowo, Common, and Tim Robbins are all included in the main cast. The science fiction series, based on High Howey’s self-published sensation Wool, is set in a post-apocalyptic future; the show’s characters live in the 144-story silo of the title, a sealed environment sustainingthe last dregs of humanity. Societal politics blend with elements of mysteryin an impressively conceived dystopia; the series is set to conclude, but not before two further seasons are produced. You can stream Silo here. Schmigadoon!There’s a big theater-kid vibe to Schmigadoon, no question, with references and in-jokes not everyone is going to get. I’m not sure it matters. When Melissaand Joshset out on a camping trip to strengthen their relationship, they instead stumble into the title town, where everyone sings their feelings, just like characters in a... you get it. The only way out? True love—which Melissa and Josh thought they already shared, but maybe not so much. It’s both a tribute to classic musicals and a satire of the common tropes and the more problematic aspects of those old productions. The second season switches location and eras to “Schmicago,” taking on the darker-tinged musicals of the 1970s. You can stream Schmigadoon here. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick TurpinThe Great British Bake Off's Noel Fielding stars in this wildly ahistorical British import involving the real-life highwayman of the title, who lived in the mid-1700s. Truth and legend are impossible to sort out when it comes to Turpin, so the show defers to the legend, adding a bunch of inspired silliness to the mix. It's not quite Our Flag Means Death, but it takes a similarly loose and fun approach to history. The well-received show shut down for good during production of a second season, under slightly mysterious circumstances, but the existing season is still worth a run. You can stream Dick Turpin here.Masters of the AirA spiritual successor and companion to earlier WWII minis Band of Brothersand The Pacific, Masters of the Air focuses on the “Bloody Hundredth,” the 100th Bomb Group—pilots tasked with bombing targets inside German-occupied Europe. Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, and Ncuti Gatwaare part of the impressive ensemble. You can stream Masters of the Air here.ConstellationSeverance, Foundation, For All Mankind, and Silo have established Apple TV+ as a home for high-concept, big-ish budget science fiction. Which is cool, given that even the SyFy channel is't filling that niche anymore. This one finds astronaut Noomi Rapace returning to Earth after an accident, and discovering that the reality she's returned to isn't quite the same as the one she left behind. You can stream Constellation here.Criminal RecordThe apparently IRL-delightful Peter Capaldi is one of our most effortlessly menacing actors, imbuing even The Doctor with an unpredictable inscrutability, so it's no surprise that he excels at playing a hardened police detective with a checkered past. He's joined here by Cush Jumbo's June Lenker, a by-the-book and far more idealistic detective who's as suspicious of Capaldi's DCI Hegarty as she is of the facts involving the cold case the pair are investigating. Think of them like a twisted version of Mulder and Scully. You can stream Criminal Record here.The Morning ShowLess high-concept than some of Apple’s other originals, The Morning Show still serves as a solid drama led by an out-of-character performance from Jennifer Aniston. She plays Alex Levy, co-host of a major network morning show. “Co-host,” that is, until Mitch, with whom she’s worked for 15 years, is fired due to sexual misconduct shortly before the show goes on the air one morning, leaving Alex to explain the situation. The resulting shake-ups and power grabswere inspired by Brian Stelter’s real-life book Top of the Morning, about thesurprisingly dramatic and cutthroat world of morning television, so with the TV-ready drama comes an air of verisimilitude. You can stream The Morning Show here. The Me That You Can’t SeeAn Oprah Winfrey/Prince Harry co-production might inspire understandable cynicism, but the effort here is worthwhile: Approaching both stars and non-celebrities, the miniseries explores issues related to mental health, particularly the stigma and difficulties in finding care. The celebs are all impressively frank, and the less-famous individuals come from a wide array of backgrounds and face a diverse set of issues. Naturally, the presentation is highly polished, but the mere fact that the streamer is putting its money into expanding conversations about mental illness make it worth checking out. You can stream The Me That You Can't See here.Truth Be ToldHonestly, they had me at Octavia Spencer. It’s not just her, though: The cast here is uniformly first-rate. The premise is also solid, and timely: Spencer plays a true-crime podcaster who condemned a now-convicted killer with her reporting, but who now learns that she might have gotten some crucial details wrong. The execution stumbles a bit in the first season, but picks up in the second and into its concluding third. You can stream Truth Be Told here.The AfterpartyAt a high school reunion afterparty, a murder occurs that, naturally, sets the series in motion—a scenario rife with possibilities, given the dramas that swirl around any real-life reunion. The spin here on the comedy murder mystery is its Rashomon-like structure: Each episode explores the night from the POV of one of the participants, shifting genre styles to suit the character in question. Tiffany Haddish and Sam Richardson are great as the leads. You can stream The Afterparty here.Little AmericaWith a sense of humor, the anthology Little America dramatizes a series of Epic Magazine pieces telling the stories of immigrants in America. Each 30-minute episode plays like a movie in miniature, and each is packed with emotion—sometimes heartbreak, often joy. Seriously, they cram a lot of heart into these little episodes. Each one ends with a tag about the real people on which it is based, which serves to ground the emotion in reality. You can stream Little America here.Home Before DarkI love, love, love that this one’s based on a true story. Home Before Dark dramatizes the story of Hilde Lysiak, award-winning crime reporter and the youngest member of the Society of Professional Journalists, who began her career at age nine. Here she’s fictionalized as Hilde Lisko, who moves with her mother to a Twin Peaks-esque coastal town where she slowly, doggedly, uncovers the truth behind a long-forgotten cold case. You can stream Home Before Dark here.ServantCreepy nanny meets creepy doll in this utterly strange psychological thriller, co-executive-produced by the occasionally brilliant but notoriously inconsistent M. Night Shyamalan. The horror here isn’t really overt, but the show plays some interesting and disturbing games centered on the relationship of the lead couple, played by Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell. Following the death of their 13-week-old son, the pair acquires a lifelike doll as a therapeutic tool. Naturally, something’s not quite right with the doll, and something’s definitely not right about the young live-in nanny who they hireto take care of fake baby Jericho. You can stream Servant here.GhostwriterThis new, updated Ghostwriter goes in a different direction than the ‘90s-era original, focusing a little bit less on the mystery elements of the stories and more on reading fundamentals. Operating out of a bookstore belonging to the grandfather of two of the main characters, four kids are brought together by a ghost who brings characters from classic and modern literature to life, with CGI that’s sometimes great —and sometimes less so. Where the show really shines is in its depiction of kids who are believably smart and savvy, unlike an awful lot of shows that can’t seem to tell the difference between a 12-year-old and a fivr-year-old. It’s definitely for kids, but that’s to its credit. You can stream Ghostwriter here.Defending JacobBased on the book by William Landay, this one’s premise is clever, and harrowing: In an upper-class Massachusetts suburb, Andyand Laurielearn that a classmate of their 14-year-old son has been murdered in a local park. What happens next is even more shocking: their son is arrested for the murder. The show sometimes leans unnecessarily into melodrama, but the performances are solid and the central mystery is so compelling, it’s hard not to get drawn in. You can stream Defending Jacob here.Black BirdNovelist Dennis Lehanedeveloped the based-on-a-true-story miniseries, and his touch is evident if you’re familiar with his books, or with the movies they’ve inspired. Taron Egerton plays Jimmy Keene, a former football star given a 10-year prison sentence for drug dealing. Before long, he’s given another shot: His sentence will be erased if he transfers to a much higher security prison for the criminally insane and gathers evidence against a suspected serial killer incarcerated there. That’s a killer premise, and Egerton is great here. You can stream Black Bird here.TryingAfter having difficulty conceiving a child, Nikki and Jason begin the adoption process, and find themselves in a bind. Were they able to conceive, there’d be no other qualifications necessary to have a baby. Adoption, on the other hand, is long process full of screenings, classes, paperwork, home visits, and money. This is one of those rare comedies that’s both genuinely funny and gentle—the show even revisits all of its characters at the end of each episode so that we know how everyone has made out. You can stream Trying here. Mythic QuestIt might sound a littleniche, but we’ve seen enough headlines about the working conditions at many video game production houses to understand why a workplace comedy set against such a backdrop would make for effectively dark and juicy comedy. Charlotte Nicdao and Rob McElhenney are the leads here, as a brilliant and driven workaholic and an unsociable egomaniac respectively, and the chemistry between their two characters give the show more than enough spark. There's also a four episode spin-off: Side Quest. You can stream Mythic Quest here. AcapulcoInspired by the 2017 film How to Be a Latin Lover, the ambitious English/Spanish-language comedy spans generations in telling the story of Maximo Gallardo Ramos, a Malibu mogul who began life as a pool boy at a fancy resort hotel. The sweet, sun-drenched show has a gorgeously retro visual style. You can stream Acapulco here. DisclaimerCreated, written, and directed by four-time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón, Disclaimer has as impressive a pedigree as you could hope for on streaming TV: It stars Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, alongside Sacha Baron Cohen and Leila George. Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, an award-winning journalist who receives a mysterious manuscript—it's a novel in which she, herself, appears to be the main character, and which reveals secrets of her past that she thought were long buried. Cuarón moves deliberately through a story that takes its time, even as each episode shifts through points of view and timelines to offer up consistent and impressive surprises. You can stream Disclaimer here. The StudioIndustry exec Matt Remickloves movies, and when he signs on for a high-profile role at the fictional Continental Studios, he's feeling like his time has come, like he can make a real difference in fixing an increasingly IP-driven movie industry. That is, until about a minute into his new job when the CEOlets him know that his first job will be marketing Kool-Aid Man, a thin attempt to rip off the success of Barbie. Hollywood satires of yore have focused on the industry as one that eats people up and spits them out, but the spin here is that Remick yearns for those days. This very funny, often intentionally cringe, comedy finds Hollywood in a state of decline and focuses on a man who'd love nothing more than to rebuild the movie industry of old. Catherine O'Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, and Kathryn Hahn also star, and the show boasts a seemingly endless list of celebrity cameos. You can stream The Studio here. #apple #original #series #you #should
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    40 Apple TV+ Original Series You Should Be Watching
    We may earn a commission from links on this page.A surprisingly endearing sitcom about an American football coach moving to the U.K. to coach the other kind of football, Ted Lasso was Apple TV+'s first breakout hit, but it's long over by this point. While few of their other shows have commanded even a fraction of the zeitgeist, over the past few years Apple's streaming service has built a small but solid library of other original series that are at least interesting or pretty good, and occasionally more. Apple's offerings still can’t quite compare to what you’ll find on Netflix or Hulu, at least in terms of volume, but there’s enough money in the tech company's bank account that they’ve shown a willingness to experiment, particularly when it comes to high-cost genres like science fiction, and that’s not a bad thing. Here are 40 of Apple’s best original shows so far. I'm highlighting the ones you may not have binged yet, so Ted Lasso isn’t on the list—but consider him mentioned here. Apple TV+ $9.99 Per Month at AppleTV+ Learn More Learn More $9.99 Per Month at AppleTV+ Dark Matter (2024 – , renewed for a second season) Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, and Alice Braga star in this high-concept sci-fi thriller from the novel by Blake Crouch (he's also the showrunner). Edgerton plays Jason Dessen, a former physicist living a fairly decent life with his wife, Daniela (Connelly) in Chicago when he's drugged and kidnapped before waking up in a Chicago where he'd never married Daniela. It seems that a version of himself invented a device allowing for travel between infinite alternate universes—and that version of Jason wants the life that our Jason has, and who's now on a quest to make his way home. You can stream Dark Matter here. Foundation (2021 —, renewed for a third season) Foundation frequently misses the point of its source material (a series of influential Isaac Asimov novels), but that doesn’t make it any less of an impressively realized science-fiction epic on its own terms. Lou Llobel and Lee Pace lead the centuries-spanning series that sees a group of scholars and rebels working to bring down a galactic empire in order to save it (in the very, very long run). The first season was pretty great, the second season was even better, and ads for the third season look promising. You can stream Foundation here. Dope Thief (2025, miniseries) Ray and Manny (Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura) are a couple of childhood friends from Philly who've been supporting themselves by impersonating DEA agents and robbing low-level stash houses in the inner city. Manny's looking to move on while Ray's eccentric mother, Theresa (Kate Mulgrew, clearly having a great time) needs a lot of money fast. And so, as you've probably guessed, we're about to enter "one last big score" plot territory, which, in this case, involves robbing a meth lab that is, it turns out, part of a large-scale operation that the real DEA has in its sights. The setup is nothing new, but everyone here is at the top of their game. You can stream Dope Thief here.Slow Horses (2022 – , renewed for fifth and sixth seasons) With nods to the great spy dramas of John le Carré, Slow Horses updates the setting without losing either the thrills or the style of a time-honored genre. The “Slow Horses” of the title is a group of has-been MI5 agents—they’ve all made messes of significant jobs, but are still seen as having some use, if only in dull administrative tasks. Naturally, the group (lead by Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden, with their spymaster played by Kristin Scott Thomas) finds themselves in deeper waters than anyone had expected of them. The show has a sly sense of humor, and balances a cynical tone with a conviction that redemption is more than possible (it's also probably my personal favorite Apple TV+ show). You can stream Slow Horses here.Sugar (2024 – , renewed for a second season) Sugar doesn't try to obscure or downplay its reliance on old-school Hollywood noir tropes: Its characters are driven to emulate the style of antiheroes of old, and clips from old movies even play alongside the action as a means of driving the point home. The central mystery sees detective John Sugar (Colin Farrell) summoned to the mansion of a rich movie producer (James Cromwell), whose granddaughter has gone missing. The first few episodes are intriguing, and  the premise is unique in that Sugar is kind of an anti-anti-hero—he's an actual nice guy in a world where he's expected to play the tough guy. The sixth episode, though, drops an absolutely wild, love-it-or-hate it plot twist that drives the remaining episode and, presumably, the forthcoming second season. The series comes from writer Mark Protosevich (The Cell, I Am Legend) and smartly directed by City of God's Fernando Meirelles, so it has style to spare. You can stream Sugar here. Pachinko (2022 – , third season renewal pending) Pachinko is technically an American production, but its largely South Korean cast and crew place it in very much in the wheelhouse of the K-dramas that have found success in the U.S. in recent years. The multigenerational saga follows one woman (Youn Yuh-jung and Kim Min-ha) and her family from the Japanese occupation of Korea through the decades of the Korean diaspora. It’s as personal as it is epic, with better location cinematography than most movies—and it’s got an all-time great opening credits sequence. You can stream Pachinko here.Palm Royale (2024 – , renewed for a second season) Kristen Wiig stars here as Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons, an endlessly inventive social climber in 1969 Palm Beach, Florida who sets out on a road to the top of the local hierarchy when she manages to nab herself a membership in the exclusive private club of the title. It's soapy and silly and occasionally over the top—which all just means that it's thoroughly entertaining and relatively stress-free. The cast here is among the best that streaming money can buy: Alongside Wiig, we get Laura Dern as a helpful hippie, Allison Janney as a demanding matriarch, Carol Burnett as mysterious (and initially comatose) local royalty, and Ricky Martin as the sexy bartender (with Bruce Dern, Julia Duffy, and Mindy Cohn among the recurring cast). You can stream Palm Royale here. Bad Sisters (2022 – , third season renewal pending) The comedy/murder mystery genre is having a moment, with Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, Apple’s own The Afterparty (to which I’ll return later in this list), and the Knives Out movies all doing brisk business. Bad Sisters is in that same category, but set apart in interesting (and significant) ways. The Dublin setting and the dark comedy stand out, and the show is as much about solving the core murder as it is about rooting for the killer, whomever they may be. Among the title sisters, one has a particularly odious husband. When he turns up dead, each of the sisters (one played by Catastrophe's Sharon Horgan, who co-created) is revealed to have had good reason for doing the job. You can stream Bad Sisters here. Severance (2022 – , renewed for a third season) Late-stage capitalism encourages “work-life balance” while simultaneously making it impossible, and then makes us feel guilty about it. In Severance, biotechnology giant Lumon Industries has a solution: They split your consciousness between your life at work and your life outside of it. For our lead characters (played by Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Britt Lower, and more) the work- and home-based consciousnesses grow apart to the point that they become entirely different people. The show blends the conventions of office-based dark comedies with movies like Brazil and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and dives into the dangers of modern American-style totalitarian capitalism while providing a reminder that technology often promises to improve our lives while only making them worse. You can stream Severance here.The Buccaneers (2023 – , renewed for a second season) The sassy, revisionist period drama (think Bridgerton) is having a heyday and, with the success of HBO's The Gilded Age (itself an Edith Wharton pastiche), it's only natural that things have come back around to the source—in this case, an unfinished Wharton novel telling the story of five American nouveau riche daughters being shuffled off to Europe to unite (in marriage) their family's ready cash with old European titles and lands. It's a fun, women-led show that splits the difference between The Gilded Age's relative faithfulness to history and Bridgerton's joyful anachronisms. You can stream The Buccaneers here. Hijack (2023 – , renewed for a second season) This solid action thriller stars Idris Elba as a business negotiator who finds himself among the passengers on a flight from London to Dubai that's been, well, hijacked. He's the only one onboard with a shot at saving himself and the other passengers, but will have to use his experience, brains, and brawn to do it. The show takes place in real time, more or less, adding to the suspense, and also making the second-season pickup slightly confusing. I'm not sure how a followup series will work, but if 24 could run for nine seasons, I'm sure that Elba's Sam Nelson can sustain at least a couple more. You can stream Hijack here. For All Mankind (2019 — , renewed for fifth season) I love a high concept—but execution is what counts, and For All Mankind makes good on its premise, thanks in large part to the involvement of writer/co-creator Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica). The show runs with a tantalizing "what if?": What if Soviet space pioneer Sergei Korolev hadn’t died prematurely in 1966 and instead helped bring his country’s space program to full flower, extending the space race indefinitely? If we’d been forced to continue and expand upon the space program, our past (and present) would look quite different, and this show dramatically imagines how that might go, jumping across decades to reveal our alternate past (and future). A spin-off involving a Soviet space program, Star City, is in the works. You can stream For All Mankind here. Dickinson (2019 – 2021, two seasons) Dickinson is so scrupulously weird that it gets points just for being unexpected. The most surprising thing about it, though, is that it's not merely idiosyncratic—it’s good. The show imagines the life of 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson, with the conceit that she didn’t fit especially well in her own time, a fact the show reflects through the casual use of anachronisms and more modern sensibilities. Think Netflix’s Bridgerton or Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette for similar vibes—but neither of those is about a person nearly as haunting or mysterious as Dickinson. Bonus: It’s also beautifully filmed and acted. You can stream Dickinson here.Visible: Out on Television (2020, miniseries) An effective update to The Celluloid Closet that takes us up to date for the Peak TV age, Visible brings that sweet Apple money to bear in gathering an impressive assortment of talking heads. Going back to the earliest days of television, when queer characters and themes were either ignored, heavily coded, or mocked, the docuseries traces the ups and downs of queer representation on TV right up until the present moment. It entertainingly documents how far we’ve come, and makes clear there’s still work to do. You can stream Visible here. Manhunt (2024, miniseries) Based on James L. Swanson’s book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, Manhunt reenacts (in detail) not just the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle), but the hours, months, and years that followed, examining the political and cultural fallout at the dawn of Reconstruction. The surprising star here is Tobias Menzies' Edwin Stanton, the war secretary who fought to preserve Lincoln's legacy, with mixed results. The show also offers strong parallels, intentional or not, between Booth—violently racist, bombastic, and vainglorious while also somehow a perpetual victim—and modern-day political figures with whom you might be familiar. You can stream Manhunt here. The Last Thing He Told Me (2023 – , renewed for a second season) Critics and audiences are divided over The Last Thing He Told Me, the crime drama earning only mixed reviews while also ranking as the streamer's most watched limited series ever. Based on the bestseller by Laura Dave, the popularity of the book might have something to do with that, as might Jennifer Garner's sensitive performance. While it scored those impressive numbers as a limited series, the series has subsequently been renewed for a new season, to be based on a forthcoming sequel novel, currently scheduled for release in 2025. Co-starring Angourie Rice, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and David Morse, the series finds Garner's character trying to forge a bond with her stepdaughter in order to help solve the mystery of her missing husband. You can stream The Last Thing He Told Me here.Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023 – , renewed for a second season) Monarch does a surprisingly effective job of telling its own story within the universe of all those American Godzilla movies of the past decade or so, bringing those big stories back down to Earth while building out an entire monster-verse mythology in the process. Anna Sawai stars as a young teacher searching for her father, missing since Godzilla's attack on San Francisco (depicted in the 2014 film), and finds herself drawn into the past and present of a secret government agency. Wyatt and Kurt Russell play the past and present incarnations of the Army colonel who helped set the whole thing in motion. You can stream Monarch here.See (2019 — 2022, three seasons) The pitch meeting for this must’ve been a hoot. “We’ll do ‘The Country of the Blind’—but, you know, in the future!” Just as in that H.G. Wells story, we learn here that being one of the only sighted people among the blind doesn’t necessarily grant you any special privileges. A few centuries from now, humans have lost their senses of sight, and the few born sighted are hunted and despised. As high concepts go, it’s a little goofy (and the reviews have been a little rough), but the beautifully produced and entertaining show blends Game of Thrones vibes with dystopian sci-fi, and boasts Jason Momoa and the always brilliant Alfre Woodard. You can stream See here.Central Park (2020 — 2022, three seasons) Central Park, from creators Loren Bouchard, Josh Gad, and Nora Smith, retains much of the look and feel of Bouchard’s beloved (and long-running) Bob’s Burgers, which is probably enough of a recommendation to get many adult-leaning cartoon fans onboard. It differs, though, in its ambition: Unlike Bob’s, this show invests more heavily in serialization to tell the story of a park manager fighting to save the titular Central Park from greedy developers. It’s also a true musical, incorporating big numbers into each and every episode. (The more sporadic musical numbers in Bob’s Burgers are always the best part, so upping that quotient here is all to the good.) You can stream Central Park here.Silo (2023 —, renewed for third and fourth seasons) The casts of many of these shows are pretty extraordinary, but this one is at least a small step above: Rebecca Ferguson, Rashida Jones, David Oyelowo, Common, and Tim Robbins are all included in the main cast. The science fiction series, based on High Howey’s self-published sensation Wool, is set in a post-apocalyptic future; the show’s characters live in the 144-story silo of the title, a sealed environment sustaining (and imprisoning?) the last dregs of humanity. Societal politics blend with elements of mystery (nothing in the silo is quite what it seems) in an impressively conceived dystopia; the series is set to conclude, but not before two further seasons are produced. You can stream Silo here. Schmigadoon! (2021 — 2023) There’s a big theater-kid vibe to Schmigadoon, no question, with references and in-jokes not everyone is going to get. I’m not sure it matters. When Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) set out on a camping trip to strengthen their relationship, they instead stumble into the title town, where everyone sings their feelings, just like characters in a... you get it. The only way out? True love—which Melissa and Josh thought they already shared, but maybe not so much. It’s both a tribute to classic musicals and a satire of the common tropes and the more problematic aspects of those old productions. The second season switches location and eras to “Schmicago,” taking on the darker-tinged musicals of the 1970s. You can stream Schmigadoon here. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (2024, one season) The Great British Bake Off's Noel Fielding stars in this wildly ahistorical British import involving the real-life highwayman of the title, who lived in the mid-1700s. Truth and legend are impossible to sort out when it comes to Turpin, so the show defers to the legend, adding a bunch of inspired silliness to the mix. It's not quite Our Flag Means Death, but it takes a similarly loose and fun approach to history. The well-received show shut down for good during production of a second season, under slightly mysterious circumstances, but the existing season is still worth a run. You can stream Dick Turpin here.Masters of the Air (2024, miniseries) A spiritual successor and companion to earlier WWII minis Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), Masters of the Air focuses on the “Bloody Hundredth,” the 100th Bomb Group—pilots tasked with bombing targets inside German-occupied Europe. Austin Butler (Elvis), Barry Keoghan (Saltburn), and Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who) are part of the impressive ensemble. You can stream Masters of the Air here.Constellation (2024 – ) Severance, Foundation, For All Mankind, and Silo have established Apple TV+ as a home for high-concept, big-ish budget science fiction. Which is cool, given that even the SyFy channel is't filling that niche anymore. This one finds astronaut Noomi Rapace returning to Earth after an accident, and discovering that the reality she's returned to isn't quite the same as the one she left behind. You can stream Constellation here.Criminal Record ( 2024 – , renewed for a second season) The apparently IRL-delightful Peter Capaldi is one of our most effortlessly menacing actors, imbuing even The Doctor with an unpredictable inscrutability, so it's no surprise that he excels at playing a hardened police detective with a checkered past. He's joined here by Cush Jumbo's June Lenker, a by-the-book and far more idealistic detective who's as suspicious of Capaldi's DCI Hegarty as she is of the facts involving the cold case the pair are investigating. Think of them like a twisted version of Mulder and Scully (minus the aliens, of course). You can stream Criminal Record here.The Morning Show (2019 — , renewed for a fourth season) Less high-concept than some of Apple’s other originals, The Morning Show still serves as a solid drama led by an out-of-character performance from Jennifer Aniston. She plays Alex Levy, co-host of a major network morning show. “Co-host,” that is, until Mitch (Steve Carrell), with whom she’s worked for 15 years, is fired due to sexual misconduct shortly before the show goes on the air one morning (a la Matt Lauer), leaving Alex to explain the situation. The resulting shake-ups and power grabs (including by an up-and-comer played by Reese Witherspoon; the star power in this thing!) were inspired by Brian Stelter’s real-life book Top of the Morning, about the (perhaps) surprisingly dramatic and cutthroat world of morning television, so with the TV-ready drama comes an air of verisimilitude. You can stream The Morning Show here. The Me That You Can’t See (2021, miniseries) An Oprah Winfrey/Prince Harry co-production might inspire understandable cynicism, but the effort here is worthwhile: Approaching both stars and non-celebrities, the miniseries explores issues related to mental health, particularly the stigma and difficulties in finding care. The celebs are all impressively frank, and the less-famous individuals come from a wide array of backgrounds and face a diverse set of issues. Naturally, the presentation is highly polished, but the mere fact that the streamer is putting its money into expanding conversations about mental illness make it worth checking out. You can stream The Me That You Can't See here.Truth Be Told (2019 — 2023, three seasons) Honestly, they had me at Octavia Spencer. It’s not just her, though: The cast here is uniformly first-rate (Lizzy Caplan, Aaron Paul, Mekhi Phifer, and Kate Hudson also star). The premise is also solid, and timely: Spencer plays a true-crime podcaster who condemned a now-convicted killer with her reporting, but who now learns that she might have gotten some crucial details wrong. The execution stumbles a bit in the first season, but picks up in the second and into its concluding third. You can stream Truth Be Told here.The Afterparty (2022 — 2023, two seasons) At a high school reunion afterparty, a murder occurs that, naturally, sets the series in motion—a scenario rife with possibilities, given the dramas that swirl around any real-life reunion. The spin here on the comedy murder mystery is its Rashomon-like structure: Each episode explores the night from the POV of one of the participants, shifting genre styles to suit the character in question. Tiffany Haddish and Sam Richardson are great as the leads. You can stream The Afterparty here.Little America (2020 — 2022, two seasons) With a sense of humor, the anthology Little America dramatizes a series of Epic Magazine pieces telling the stories of immigrants in America. Each 30-minute episode plays like a movie in miniature, and each is packed with emotion—sometimes heartbreak, often joy. Seriously, they cram a lot of heart into these little episodes. Each one ends with a tag about the real people on which it is based, which serves to ground the emotion in reality. You can stream Little America here.Home Before Dark (2020 — 2021, two seasons) I love, love, love that this one’s based on a true story. Home Before Dark dramatizes the story of Hilde Lysiak, award-winning crime reporter and the youngest member of the Society of Professional Journalists, who began her career at age nine (she’s now a whopping 14). Here she’s fictionalized as Hilde Lisko (Brooklynn Prince), who moves with her mother to a Twin Peaks-esque coastal town where she slowly, doggedly, uncovers the truth behind a long-forgotten cold case. You can stream Home Before Dark here.Servant (2019 — 2023, four seasons) Creepy nanny meets creepy doll in this utterly strange psychological thriller, co-executive-produced by the occasionally brilliant but notoriously inconsistent M. Night Shyamalan (the show was created by Tony Basgallop). The horror here isn’t really overt, but the show plays some interesting and disturbing games centered on the relationship of the lead couple, played by Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell. Following the death of their 13-week-old son, the pair acquires a lifelike doll as a therapeutic tool. Naturally, something’s not quite right with the doll (or Dorothy’s attachment to it), and something’s definitely not right about the young live-in nanny who they hire (rich people, amirite?) to take care of fake baby Jericho. You can stream Servant here.Ghostwriter (2019 — 2022, three seasons) This new, updated Ghostwriter goes in a different direction than the ‘90s-era original, focusing a little bit less on the mystery elements of the stories and more on reading fundamentals. Operating out of a bookstore belonging to the grandfather of two of the main characters, four kids are brought together by a ghost who brings characters from classic and modern literature to life, with CGI that’s sometimes great —and sometimes less so. Where the show really shines is in its depiction of kids who are believably smart and savvy, unlike an awful lot of shows that can’t seem to tell the difference between a 12-year-old and a fivr-year-old. It’s definitely for kids, but that’s to its credit. You can stream Ghostwriter here.Defending Jacob (2020, miniseries) Based on the book by William Landay, this one’s premise is clever, and harrowing: In an upper-class Massachusetts suburb, Andy (Chris Evans) and Laurie (Michelle Dockery) learn that a classmate of their 14-year-old son has been murdered in a local park. What happens next is even more shocking: their son is arrested for the murder. The show sometimes leans unnecessarily into melodrama, but the performances are solid and the central mystery is so compelling, it’s hard not to get drawn in. You can stream Defending Jacob here.Black Bird (2022, miniseries) Novelist Dennis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River) developed the based-on-a-true-story miniseries, and his touch is evident if you’re familiar with his books, or with the movies they’ve inspired. Taron Egerton plays Jimmy Keene, a former football star given a 10-year prison sentence for drug dealing. Before long, he’s given another shot: His sentence will be erased if he transfers to a much higher security prison for the criminally insane and gathers evidence against a suspected serial killer incarcerated there. That’s a killer premise, and Egerton is great here. You can stream Black Bird here.Trying (2020 — , renewed for fifth season) After having difficulty conceiving a child, Nikki and Jason begin the adoption process, and find themselves in a bind. Were they able to conceive, there’d be no other qualifications necessary to have a baby. Adoption, on the other hand, is long process full of screenings, classes, paperwork, home visits, and money. This is one of those rare comedies that’s both genuinely funny and gentle—the show even revisits all of its characters at the end of each episode so that we know how everyone has made out. You can stream Trying here. Mythic Quest (2020 — 2025, four seasons) It might sound a little (or a lot) niche, but we’ve seen enough headlines about the working conditions at many video game production houses to understand why a workplace comedy set against such a backdrop would make for effectively dark and juicy comedy. Charlotte Nicdao and Rob McElhenney are the leads here, as a brilliant and driven workaholic and an unsociable egomaniac respectively, and the chemistry between their two characters give the show more than enough spark. There's also a four episode spin-off: Side Quest. You can stream Mythic Quest here. Acapulco (2021 – , renewed for a fourth season) Inspired by the 2017 film How to Be a Latin Lover, the ambitious English/Spanish-language comedy spans generations in telling the story of Maximo Gallardo Ramos (Eugenio Derbez), a Malibu mogul who began life as a pool boy at a fancy resort hotel. The sweet, sun-drenched show has a gorgeously retro visual style. You can stream Acapulco here. Disclaimer (2024, miniseries) Created, written, and directed by four-time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón, Disclaimer has as impressive a pedigree as you could hope for on streaming TV: It stars Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline (both, incidentally, Oscar winners), alongside Sacha Baron Cohen and Leila George. Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, an award-winning journalist who receives a mysterious manuscript—it's a novel in which she, herself, appears to be the main character, and which reveals secrets of her past that she thought were long buried. Cuarón moves deliberately through a story that takes its time, even as each episode shifts through points of view and timelines to offer up consistent and impressive surprises. You can stream Disclaimer here. The Studio (2025 – , renewed for a second season) Industry exec Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) loves movies, and when he signs on for a high-profile role at the fictional Continental Studios, he's feeling like his time has come, like he can make a real difference in fixing an increasingly IP-driven movie industry. That is, until about a minute into his new job when the CEO (Bryan Cranston) lets him know that his first job will be marketing Kool-Aid Man, a thin attempt to rip off the success of Barbie. Hollywood satires of yore have focused on the industry as one that eats people up and spits them out, but the spin here is that Remick yearns for those days. This very funny, often intentionally cringe, comedy finds Hollywood in a state of decline and focuses on a man who'd love nothing more than to rebuild the movie industry of old. Catherine O'Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders (Bodies Bodies Bodies), and Kathryn Hahn also star, and the show boasts a seemingly endless list of celebrity cameos. You can stream The Studio here.
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  • #333;">Casa De Blas by Alberto Campo Baeza

    Casa De Blas | © Hisao Suzuki
    Set on a hillside in Sevilla la Nueva, a town southwest of Madrid, Casa De Blas is a distilled expression of the architectural dialectic between weight and lightness, earth and sky.
    Designed in 2000 by Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza, the house is both an act of landscape intervention and a metaphysical construct, a spatial meditation on essential form and material logic.
    Casa De Blas Technical Information
    Architects1-3: Alberto Campo Baeza
    Location: Sevilla la Nueva, Madrid, Spain
    Area: 250 m2 | 2,690 Sq.
    Ft.
    Project Year: 2000
    Photographs: © Hisao Suzuki
    This house aims to be a literal translation of the idea of the tectonic box upon the stereotomic box.
    Like a distillation of the most essential in architecture.
    Once again, more with less.
    – Alberto Campo Baeza
    Casa De Blas Photographs
    © Hisao Suzuki
    © Hisao Suzuki
    © Hisao Suzuki
    © Hisao Suzuki
    © Hisao Suzuki
    © Hisao Suzuki
    The Architecture of Duality: Ground and Sky
    Campo Baeza’s work consistently revolves around a search for architectural clarity.
    In Casa De Blas, this clarity manifests as two boxes: a grounded concrete volume that holds the domestic program and a glass pavilion above that elevates the act of looking.
    The house is not merely built on the landscape; it is in dialogue with it.
    The conceptual strategy of Casa De Blas is rooted in a tectonic-syntactic opposition between the stereotomic base and the tectonic roof.
    The lower portion consists of a robust concrete platform embedded in the earth like a carved podium.
    This base supports a lighter glass structure above, where steel elements define the enclosure with minimal mass.
    The house engages the site with careful restraint.
    Rather than dominate the hilltop, it accepts the slope and turns its attention to the northern view of the Sierra de Guadarrama.
    This orientation informs light and shadow’s spatial organization and phenomenological qualities.
    Inside the concrete base, the architecture follows a precise logic.
    A service band is located toward the rear, while primary living spaces occupy the front, facing the landscape.
    Square window openings, deeply set into the thick walls, frame views with the intentionality of a camera obscura.
    These apertures do not merely let in light; they shape perception, creating a sense of distance and inwardness.
    The Pavilion as Apparatus for Contemplation
    Above this grounded core, the transparent upper volume serves as a lookout.
    Reached from the interior by ascending stairs, the glass box sits lightly on the podium, offering a counterpoint to the cave-like enclosure below.
    There is no visible carpentry, just frameless glazing and a white steel canopy, which shades the upper level while preserving its airy, open quality.
    The north-facing glass stretches toward the edge, embracing the panoramic view.
    On the southern side, the volume recedes to create a shaded void, regulating solar gain.
    This sectional asymmetry allows the architecture to perform environmentally without compromising its compositional purity.
    Campo Baeza describes the house as a literal translation of the idea of a tectonic box upon a stereotomic box.
    The reference is not metaphorical but structural and spatial.
    The upper pavilion is not a symbol of transparency but a mechanism for perception.
    In this way, the house operates as a philosophical instrument as much as a dwelling.
    Casa De Blas Proportion and Compositional Rigour
    The power of the project lies in the spatial sequence from the heavy to the light, from the shaded to the luminous.
    The contrast between these two atmospheres creates a duality of experience: shelter and openness, introspection and projection.
    The structural order contributes to this sense of serenity.
    Steel supports are arranged in double symmetry, reinforcing the composition’s static quality.
    Nothing feels arbitrary.
    Every gesture is reduced to its essential nature.
    The palette is limited to concrete, glass, and steel, yet the result is rich in meaning.
    The interior is equally restrained, avoiding superfluous detailing.
    It is architecture as a frame, a backdrop for landscape and thought.
    Campo Baeza’s work here touches the territory of the poetic, not through expressionism but through control and abstraction.
    Casa De Blas Plans
    Concept | © Alberto Campo Baeza
    North Elevation | © Alberto Campo Baeza
    East Elevation | © Alberto Campo Baeza
    Upper Level | © Alberto Campo Baeza
    Floor Plan | © Alberto Campo Baeza
    Section | © Alberto Campo Baeza
    Casa De Blas Image Gallery
    About Alberto Campo Baeza
    Alberto Campo Baeza is a Spanish architect born in 1946 in Valladolid.
    Renowned for his minimalist and essentialist approach, he emphasizes the interplay of light, gravity, and proportion in his designs.
    His notable works include the Casa Turégano, Casa de Blas, and the Caja de Granada headquarters.
    Campo Baeza was a full-time design professor at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) from 1986 until his retirement in 2017.
    He has received numerous accolades throughout his career, such as the RIBA International Fellowship and the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal, recognizing his contributions to contemporary architecture.
    Credits and Additional Notes
    Design Team: Alberto Campo Baeza, Alfonso González Gamo
    Structural Engineer: Julio Martínez Calzón, MC-2
    Collaborators: Teresa Campos
    #666;">المصدر: https://archeyes.com/casa-de-blas-by-alberto-campo-baeza/" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">archeyes.com
    #0066cc;">#casa #blas #alberto #campo #baeza #hisao #suzukiset #hillside #sevilla #nueva #town #southwest #madrid #distilled #expression #the #architectural #dialectic #between #weight #and #lightness #earth #skydesigned #spanish #architect #house #both #act #landscape #intervention #metaphysical #construct #spatial #meditation #essential #form #material #logiccasa #technical #informationarchitects13 #baezalocation #spainarea #250m2 #2690sqftproject #year #2000photographs #suzukithis #aims #literal #translation #idea #tectonic #box #upon #stereotomic #boxlike #distillation #most #architectureonce #again #more #with #less #baezacasa #photographs #suzuki #suzukithe #architecture #duality #ground #skycampo #baezas #work #consistently #revolves #around #search #for #clarityin #this #clarity #manifests #two #boxes #grounded #concrete #volume #that #holds #domestic #program #glass #pavilion #above #elevates #lookingthe #not #merely #built #dialogue #itthe #conceptual #strategy #rooted #tectonicsyntactic #opposition #base #roofthe #lower #portion #consists #robust #platform #embedded #like #carved #podiumthis #supports #lighter #structure #where #steel #elements #define #enclosure #minimal #massthe #engages #site #careful #restraintrather #than #dominate #hilltop #accepts #slope #turns #its #attention #northern #view #sierra #guadarramathis #orientation #informs #light #shadows #organization #phenomenological #qualitiesinside #follows #precise #logica #service #band #located #toward #rear #while #primary #living #spaces #occupy #front #facing #landscapesquare #window #openings #deeply #set #into #thick #walls #frame #views #intentionality #camera #obscurathese #apertures #let #they #shape #perception #creating #sense #distance #inwardnessthe #apparatus #contemplationabove #core #transparent #upper #serves #lookoutreached #from #interior #ascending #stairs #sits #lightly #podium #offering #counterpoint #cavelike #belowthere #visible #carpentry #just #frameless #glazing #white #canopy #which #shades #level #preserving #airy #open #qualitythe #northfacing #stretches #edge #embracing #panoramic #viewon #southern #side #recedes #create #shaded #void #regulating #solar #gainthis #sectional #asymmetry #allows #perform #environmentally #without #compromising #compositional #puritycampo #describes #boxthe #reference #metaphorical #but #structural #spatialthe #symbol #transparency #mechanism #perceptionin #way #operates #philosophical #instrument #much #dwellingcasa #proportion #rigourthe #power #project #lies #sequence #heavy #luminousthe #contrast #these #atmospheres #creates #experience #shelter #openness #introspection #projectionthe #order #contributes #serenitysteel #are #arranged #double #symmetry #reinforcing #compositions #static #qualitynothing #feels #arbitraryevery #gesture #reduced #naturethe #palette #limited #yet #result #rich #meaningthe #equally #restrained #avoiding #superfluous #detailingit #backdrop #thoughtcampo #here #touches #territory #poetic #through #expressionism #control #abstractioncasa #plansconcept #baezanorth #elevation #baezaeast #baezaupper #baezafloor #plan #baezasection #image #galleryabout #baezaalberto #born #valladolidrenowned #his #minimalist #essentialist #approach #emphasizes #interplay #gravity #designshis #notable #works #include #turégano #caja #granada #headquarterscampo #was #fulltime #design #professor #escuela #técnica #superior #arquitectura #etsam #until #retirement #2017he #has #received #numerous #accolades #throughout #career #such #riba #international #fellowship #heinrich #tessenow #gold #medal #recognizing #contributions #contemporary #architecturecredits #additional #notesdesign #team #alfonso #gonzález #gamostructural #engineer #julio #martínez #calzón #mc2collaborators #teresa #campos
    Casa De Blas by Alberto Campo Baeza
    Casa De Blas | © Hisao Suzuki Set on a hillside in Sevilla la Nueva, a town southwest of Madrid, Casa De Blas is a distilled expression of the architectural dialectic between weight and lightness, earth and sky. Designed in 2000 by Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza, the house is both an act of landscape intervention and a metaphysical construct, a spatial meditation on essential form and material logic. Casa De Blas Technical Information Architects1-3: Alberto Campo Baeza Location: Sevilla la Nueva, Madrid, Spain Area: 250 m2 | 2,690 Sq. Ft. Project Year: 2000 Photographs: © Hisao Suzuki This house aims to be a literal translation of the idea of the tectonic box upon the stereotomic box. Like a distillation of the most essential in architecture. Once again, more with less. – Alberto Campo Baeza Casa De Blas Photographs © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki The Architecture of Duality: Ground and Sky Campo Baeza’s work consistently revolves around a search for architectural clarity. In Casa De Blas, this clarity manifests as two boxes: a grounded concrete volume that holds the domestic program and a glass pavilion above that elevates the act of looking. The house is not merely built on the landscape; it is in dialogue with it. The conceptual strategy of Casa De Blas is rooted in a tectonic-syntactic opposition between the stereotomic base and the tectonic roof. The lower portion consists of a robust concrete platform embedded in the earth like a carved podium. This base supports a lighter glass structure above, where steel elements define the enclosure with minimal mass. The house engages the site with careful restraint. Rather than dominate the hilltop, it accepts the slope and turns its attention to the northern view of the Sierra de Guadarrama. This orientation informs light and shadow’s spatial organization and phenomenological qualities. Inside the concrete base, the architecture follows a precise logic. A service band is located toward the rear, while primary living spaces occupy the front, facing the landscape. Square window openings, deeply set into the thick walls, frame views with the intentionality of a camera obscura. These apertures do not merely let in light; they shape perception, creating a sense of distance and inwardness. The Pavilion as Apparatus for Contemplation Above this grounded core, the transparent upper volume serves as a lookout. Reached from the interior by ascending stairs, the glass box sits lightly on the podium, offering a counterpoint to the cave-like enclosure below. There is no visible carpentry, just frameless glazing and a white steel canopy, which shades the upper level while preserving its airy, open quality. The north-facing glass stretches toward the edge, embracing the panoramic view. On the southern side, the volume recedes to create a shaded void, regulating solar gain. This sectional asymmetry allows the architecture to perform environmentally without compromising its compositional purity. Campo Baeza describes the house as a literal translation of the idea of a tectonic box upon a stereotomic box. The reference is not metaphorical but structural and spatial. The upper pavilion is not a symbol of transparency but a mechanism for perception. In this way, the house operates as a philosophical instrument as much as a dwelling. Casa De Blas Proportion and Compositional Rigour The power of the project lies in the spatial sequence from the heavy to the light, from the shaded to the luminous. The contrast between these two atmospheres creates a duality of experience: shelter and openness, introspection and projection. The structural order contributes to this sense of serenity. Steel supports are arranged in double symmetry, reinforcing the composition’s static quality. Nothing feels arbitrary. Every gesture is reduced to its essential nature. The palette is limited to concrete, glass, and steel, yet the result is rich in meaning. The interior is equally restrained, avoiding superfluous detailing. It is architecture as a frame, a backdrop for landscape and thought. Campo Baeza’s work here touches the territory of the poetic, not through expressionism but through control and abstraction. Casa De Blas Plans Concept | © Alberto Campo Baeza North Elevation | © Alberto Campo Baeza East Elevation | © Alberto Campo Baeza Upper Level | © Alberto Campo Baeza Floor Plan | © Alberto Campo Baeza Section | © Alberto Campo Baeza Casa De Blas Image Gallery About Alberto Campo Baeza Alberto Campo Baeza is a Spanish architect born in 1946 in Valladolid. Renowned for his minimalist and essentialist approach, he emphasizes the interplay of light, gravity, and proportion in his designs. His notable works include the Casa Turégano, Casa de Blas, and the Caja de Granada headquarters. Campo Baeza was a full-time design professor at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) from 1986 until his retirement in 2017. He has received numerous accolades throughout his career, such as the RIBA International Fellowship and the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal, recognizing his contributions to contemporary architecture. Credits and Additional Notes Design Team: Alberto Campo Baeza, Alfonso González Gamo Structural Engineer: Julio Martínez Calzón, MC-2 Collaborators: Teresa Campos
    المصدر: archeyes.com
    #casa #blas #alberto #campo #baeza #hisao #suzukiset #hillside #sevilla #nueva #town #southwest #madrid #distilled #expression #the #architectural #dialectic #between #weight #and #lightness #earth #skydesigned #spanish #architect #house #both #act #landscape #intervention #metaphysical #construct #spatial #meditation #essential #form #material #logiccasa #technical #informationarchitects13 #baezalocation #spainarea #250m2 #2690sqftproject #year #2000photographs #suzukithis #aims #literal #translation #idea #tectonic #box #upon #stereotomic #boxlike #distillation #most #architectureonce #again #more #with #less #baezacasa #photographs #suzuki #suzukithe #architecture #duality #ground #skycampo #baezas #work #consistently #revolves #around #search #for #clarityin #this #clarity #manifests #two #boxes #grounded #concrete #volume #that #holds #domestic #program #glass #pavilion #above #elevates #lookingthe #not #merely #built #dialogue #itthe #conceptual #strategy #rooted #tectonicsyntactic #opposition #base #roofthe #lower #portion #consists #robust #platform #embedded #like #carved #podiumthis #supports #lighter #structure #where #steel #elements #define #enclosure #minimal #massthe #engages #site #careful #restraintrather #than #dominate #hilltop #accepts #slope #turns #its #attention #northern #view #sierra #guadarramathis #orientation #informs #light #shadows #organization #phenomenological #qualitiesinside #follows #precise #logica #service #band #located #toward #rear #while #primary #living #spaces #occupy #front #facing #landscapesquare #window #openings #deeply #set #into #thick #walls #frame #views #intentionality #camera #obscurathese #apertures #let #they #shape #perception #creating #sense #distance #inwardnessthe #apparatus #contemplationabove #core #transparent #upper #serves #lookoutreached #from #interior #ascending #stairs #sits #lightly #podium #offering #counterpoint #cavelike #belowthere #visible #carpentry #just #frameless #glazing #white #canopy #which #shades #level #preserving #airy #open #qualitythe #northfacing #stretches #edge #embracing #panoramic #viewon #southern #side #recedes #create #shaded #void #regulating #solar #gainthis #sectional #asymmetry #allows #perform #environmentally #without #compromising #compositional #puritycampo #describes #boxthe #reference #metaphorical #but #structural #spatialthe #symbol #transparency #mechanism #perceptionin #way #operates #philosophical #instrument #much #dwellingcasa #proportion #rigourthe #power #project #lies #sequence #heavy #luminousthe #contrast #these #atmospheres #creates #experience #shelter #openness #introspection #projectionthe #order #contributes #serenitysteel #are #arranged #double #symmetry #reinforcing #compositions #static #qualitynothing #feels #arbitraryevery #gesture #reduced #naturethe #palette #limited #yet #result #rich #meaningthe #equally #restrained #avoiding #superfluous #detailingit #backdrop #thoughtcampo #here #touches #territory #poetic #through #expressionism #control #abstractioncasa #plansconcept #baezanorth #elevation #baezaeast #baezaupper #baezafloor #plan #baezasection #image #galleryabout #baezaalberto #born #valladolidrenowned #his #minimalist #essentialist #approach #emphasizes #interplay #gravity #designshis #notable #works #include #turégano #caja #granada #headquarterscampo #was #fulltime #design #professor #escuela #técnica #superior #arquitectura #etsam #until #retirement #2017he #has #received #numerous #accolades #throughout #career #such #riba #international #fellowship #heinrich #tessenow #gold #medal #recognizing #contributions #contemporary #architecturecredits #additional #notesdesign #team #alfonso #gonzález #gamostructural #engineer #julio #martínez #calzón #mc2collaborators #teresa #campos
    ARCHEYES.COM
    Casa De Blas by Alberto Campo Baeza
    Casa De Blas | © Hisao Suzuki Set on a hillside in Sevilla la Nueva, a town southwest of Madrid, Casa De Blas is a distilled expression of the architectural dialectic between weight and lightness, earth and sky. Designed in 2000 by Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza, the house is both an act of landscape intervention and a metaphysical construct, a spatial meditation on essential form and material logic. Casa De Blas Technical Information Architects1-3: Alberto Campo Baeza Location: Sevilla la Nueva, Madrid, Spain Area: 250 m2 | 2,690 Sq. Ft. Project Year: 2000 Photographs: © Hisao Suzuki This house aims to be a literal translation of the idea of the tectonic box upon the stereotomic box. Like a distillation of the most essential in architecture. Once again, more with less. – Alberto Campo Baeza Casa De Blas Photographs © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki The Architecture of Duality: Ground and Sky Campo Baeza’s work consistently revolves around a search for architectural clarity. In Casa De Blas, this clarity manifests as two boxes: a grounded concrete volume that holds the domestic program and a glass pavilion above that elevates the act of looking. The house is not merely built on the landscape; it is in dialogue with it. The conceptual strategy of Casa De Blas is rooted in a tectonic-syntactic opposition between the stereotomic base and the tectonic roof. The lower portion consists of a robust concrete platform embedded in the earth like a carved podium. This base supports a lighter glass structure above, where steel elements define the enclosure with minimal mass. The house engages the site with careful restraint. Rather than dominate the hilltop, it accepts the slope and turns its attention to the northern view of the Sierra de Guadarrama. This orientation informs light and shadow’s spatial organization and phenomenological qualities. Inside the concrete base, the architecture follows a precise logic. A service band is located toward the rear, while primary living spaces occupy the front, facing the landscape. Square window openings, deeply set into the thick walls, frame views with the intentionality of a camera obscura. These apertures do not merely let in light; they shape perception, creating a sense of distance and inwardness. The Pavilion as Apparatus for Contemplation Above this grounded core, the transparent upper volume serves as a lookout. Reached from the interior by ascending stairs, the glass box sits lightly on the podium, offering a counterpoint to the cave-like enclosure below. There is no visible carpentry, just frameless glazing and a white steel canopy, which shades the upper level while preserving its airy, open quality. The north-facing glass stretches toward the edge, embracing the panoramic view. On the southern side, the volume recedes to create a shaded void, regulating solar gain. This sectional asymmetry allows the architecture to perform environmentally without compromising its compositional purity. Campo Baeza describes the house as a literal translation of the idea of a tectonic box upon a stereotomic box. The reference is not metaphorical but structural and spatial. The upper pavilion is not a symbol of transparency but a mechanism for perception. In this way, the house operates as a philosophical instrument as much as a dwelling. Casa De Blas Proportion and Compositional Rigour The power of the project lies in the spatial sequence from the heavy to the light, from the shaded to the luminous. The contrast between these two atmospheres creates a duality of experience: shelter and openness, introspection and projection. The structural order contributes to this sense of serenity. Steel supports are arranged in double symmetry, reinforcing the composition’s static quality. Nothing feels arbitrary. Every gesture is reduced to its essential nature. The palette is limited to concrete, glass, and steel, yet the result is rich in meaning. The interior is equally restrained, avoiding superfluous detailing. It is architecture as a frame, a backdrop for landscape and thought. Campo Baeza’s work here touches the territory of the poetic, not through expressionism but through control and abstraction. Casa De Blas Plans Concept | © Alberto Campo Baeza North Elevation | © Alberto Campo Baeza East Elevation | © Alberto Campo Baeza Upper Level | © Alberto Campo Baeza Floor Plan | © Alberto Campo Baeza Section | © Alberto Campo Baeza Casa De Blas Image Gallery About Alberto Campo Baeza Alberto Campo Baeza is a Spanish architect born in 1946 in Valladolid. Renowned for his minimalist and essentialist approach, he emphasizes the interplay of light, gravity, and proportion in his designs. His notable works include the Casa Turégano, Casa de Blas, and the Caja de Granada headquarters. Campo Baeza was a full-time design professor at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) from 1986 until his retirement in 2017. He has received numerous accolades throughout his career, such as the RIBA International Fellowship and the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal, recognizing his contributions to contemporary architecture. Credits and Additional Notes Design Team: Alberto Campo Baeza, Alfonso González Gamo Structural Engineer: Julio Martínez Calzón, MC-2 Collaborators: Teresa Campos
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