TV Talk: Action comedy ‘Twisted Metal’ twists expectations for post-apocalyptic storytelling

Post-apocalyptic stories can entertain and provoke thought – see HBO’s “The Last of Us” – but they also tend to be major downers. Along comes Peacock’s bonkers “Twisted Metal” to say, “Not always!”

Like “The Last of Us,” “Twisted Metal” is based on a video game, this time a 1995 PlayStation vehicular combat game of the same name. But “Twisted Metal,” now streaming all 10 episodes of its first season, depicts its future wasteland with an eye toward humor.

Developed by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (“Deadpool,” “The Joe Schmo Show”) and written by Michael Jonathan Smith (“Cobra Kai”), “Twisted Metal” stars series MVP Anthony Mackie (“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”) as John Doe, a “milkman” who makes deliveries between walled cities through an American wasteland.

In the premiere, the boss (Neve Campbell) of a weirdly unhilly San Francisco (the show shot in New Orleans) offers John an opportunity to live inside the walls if he’ll retrieve a mysterious package in New Chicago, a longer and more treacherous trip than John’s ever taken.

From an opening chase scene through an abandoned mall – nickname this show “The Fast and the Foul-Mouthed” – “Twisted Metal” leans into comedy. (Exhibit A: John’s smirk when a “Twisted Metal” video game case lands on his windshield during that mall chase.)

But the show’s tone varies between comedic action and moments of bloody, violent drama often involving a sadistic villain, Agent Stone (Thomas Haden Church).

John ends up with a passenger he nicknames Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz, “Brooklyn Nine”) and they encounter a psychotic clown, Sweet Tooth (voice of Will Arnett) in the show’s second episode that puts more emphasis on character over car chases.

Mackie, borrowing some comedic delivery stylings from Eddie Murphy, proves again he’s a welcome lead actor, effortlessly playing the humor while also evincing the anguish of John’s past that’s brought to the fore through flashbacks.

Ultimately several characters get flashbacks that deepen viewers’ understanding of them, including Quiet and perhaps most surprisingly Sweet Tooth.

While “Twisted Metal” has the arced plot of John’s journey to Chicago, each 30-minute episode delivers a discrete fetch quest plot en route. In the third episode, John and Quiet get captured by a convoy that travels “Snowpiercer”-style with one of its leaders enlisting the pair in a mission. Sometimes characters from these episodic adventures recur as “Twisted Metal” engages in satisfying world-building.

By the end of the season, “Twisted Metal” seems like it’s exhausted its premise, but multiple cliffhangers suggest otherwise.

‘The Beanie Bubble’

This Apple TV+ film chronicles the 1990s Beanie Baby craze from inside the toy company run by Ty Warner (Zach Galifinakis). But it shows the real brains behind the operation were three women played by Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook and Geraldine Viswanathan. “Beanie Bubble” isn’t as funny as one would hope but it’s an interesting process piece about a difficult, weird man and the women key to his efforts who he took for granted.

Streaming July 28, “The Beanie Bubble” is based on the non-fiction book “The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute” by Zac Bissionnette that’s been adapted for Apple TV+ by writer Kristin Gore, daughter of former U.S. vice president Al Gore and an associate producer on filmed-in-Western Pennsylvania movie “Foxcatcher.” She directed “Beanie Bubble” with husband Damian Kulash and while it’s based on a true story, the movie begins with a disclaimer, “There are parts of the truth you just can’t make up. The rest, we did.”

Galifinakis is well cast as the eccentric, narcissistic, chocolate milk-sipping toy company impresario whose profitable creation of small, understuffed plush animals became a sensation thanks largely to the input of others. Banks, Snook and Viswanthan distinguish each of their characters that share a throughline of being smart and capable women who put their trust in a man who betrays them, sometimes on multiple fronts.

“Beanie Bubble” hops back and forth through time to show the input of the three women key to the company’s success – two linked to Warner romantically; one an ahead-of-her-time digital marketer. Whether one’s interest in the film wanes may depend on the degree of a viewer’s appetite for character-driven business shenanigans around a celebrated pop culture fad.

Area native finds ‘Adventure’

Jeffrey Wasilowski, a Natrona Heights native and 1988 Point Park College grad, is featured on the Aug. 1 episode of “Finding Adventure with Kinga Philipps” on Hearst’s Very Local Pittsburgh. The episode, filmed in Albuquerque, N.M., where Wasilowski now lives, follows Philipps as she goes mountain biking, kayaking and fly fishing with Wasilowski, who had both legs amputated due to hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy.

Wasilowski lived in Chicago for 15 years when his illness led him to relocate to an acre of land two hours north of Santa Fe.

“Haven’t been back to Pittsburgh since mom sold the family home in 1990,” he explained. “My bucket list is to come back to finally see the Pens play and a Steelers game.”

Wasilowski’s episode marks the third season premiere of “Finding Adventure,” a series that follows ocean conservationist Philipps as she guides one person weekly (from a city that has a Hearst-owned TV station) to get out of their comfort zones and into outdoor adventures.

Channel surfing

Pittsburgher Tanner Courtad exited ABC’s “The Bachelorette” Monday without ever getting a one-on-one date with bachelorette Charity Lawson (despite requests, ABC did not make Courtad available for an interview at press time). … AMC announced second season renewals for two “Walking Dead” spin-offs, “Dead City” and “Daryl Dixon” (premieres 9 p.m. Sept. 10), and announced the title of a third, 2024’s “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live,” starring Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira. … ALF is back! The puppet star of the 1986-90 NBC sitcom filmed new branded content segments (re: ads for the likes of Mint Mobile and Ring doorbells) that will stream in “ALF” reruns on the Maximum Effort FAST channel found on Tubi, Amazon Freevee and Fubo beginning Saturday..