TV Talk: Disney+ debuts latest Marvel series, ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’

After the inventiveness of Marvel’s “WandaVision,” a meditation on grief that lead character Wanda tried to escape by inhabiting TV sitcoms through the decades, whatever came next was likely to pale in comparison, particularly for those non-Marvel devotees who appreciated the attention to pop culture detail in “WandaVision.”

And so it is that Disney+’s latest Marvel entry, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” is a bit of a come down from “WandaVision.” “Falcon” isn’t bad, just more familiar.

Filled with action sequences on par with the movies, “Falcon” is sure to please Marvel devotees as the series embraces the serialized TV format that makes room for greater character development.

While viewers could come into “WandaVision” with limited knowledge of the Wanda and Vision backstory, “Falcon” has a higher barrier to entry because Falcon and the Winter Soldier have been featured more prominently and frequently.

Now streaming, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” picks up after the events of “Avengers: Endgame” in which Capt. America, AKA Steve Rogers, bequeathed his red, white and blue shield to Falcon, AKA Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). Falcon is wary of stepping into Capt. America’s blue spandex; by the end of the first hour he may regret that hesitancy.

Meanwhile, the Winter Soldier, AKA Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), has to see a therapist as a condition of his parole. He has flashbacks to when he was a brainwashed killer and comes face-to-face with the anguish his past actions caused.

That “Falcon” is a weekly series (and not a binge release) gives Disney+ a leg up over HBO Max’s long-discussed Snyder cut of “Justice League,” now a four-hour monstrosity that debuted Thursday but one that will be consumed this weekend and then exit the pop culture discourse. With six episodes, even if “Falcon” isn’t as surprising as “WandaVision,” Marvel’s latest still has the opportunity to be a social media buzz magnet every Friday for the next month.

During an online Disney+ press conference Sunday, writer Malcolm Spellman compared the tone of “Falcon” to a two-hander, buddy-cop movie like “Lethal Weapon” or “Bad Boys” given the playful banter between Sam and Bucky.

“The movies (are) like the snack, and this is like the meal,” added director Kari Skogland. “The films are often very high-octane already and they’re immersed in some world-saving event so it’s very hard to go off on a little tangent with a character because the stakes are so high in one singular direction. But on a series, you’re able to meander a little bit and we’re able to get inside the lives of our characters.”

Stan said Bucky is battling PTSD while on a quest for identity, accepting his past and re-educating himself about the world he’s in now. Sam gets a backstory involving his family.

“There has been a lot of trauma for these characters over the years and you can easily forget that or brush that under the carpet because theres sparkly portals opening and people cheering and Iron Man punching a flying lizard,” said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. “But what if we lived this? There would be horrific elements to that that would have repercussions years down the line.”

The “Falcon” team seemed to have a sense that after the commercial success of the Marvel movies and the critical praise and buzz around “WandaVision,” they have big shoes to fill.

“Our goal, and we’ve talked about this, was not to mess it up,” Mackie said. “We didn’t want to be the first crappy Marvel project. Our job was to take the torch and not make a bad show. And I’m very happy to say that Steve Rogers will be proud that our show does not suck.”

‘Genius: Aretha’

British actress Cynthia Erivo stars as singing legend Aretha Franklin in National Geographic Channel’s “Genius: Aretha” (9-11 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday), which underwhelms with rote characterizations and cliches in this eight-hour downer of a limited series.

The first hour jumps back and forth between a 1967 recording session in Muscle Shoals, Ala., and Aretha’s childhood as the show sets up two disappointing men in Aretha’s life, her unfaithful preacher father (Courtney B. Vance) and her insecure, abusive husband (Malcolm Barrett).

The musical moments are fantastic — as is Erivo, who evinces no sign of a British accent — but what comes between the musical numbers is a bit of a slog.

‘Independent Lens: Coded Bias’

PBS’s “Independent Lens” presents “Coded Bias” (10 p.m. Monday, WQED-TV), a fascinating look at gender and racial bias in artificial intelligence algorithms.

The documentary begins with a Black woman’s grad school art project in which facial recognition software does not recognize her as a person until she puts on a white mask.

Kept/canceled

Syfy renewed “Resident Alien” for a second season.

Starz renewed “Outlander” for a seventh season; Season 6 is expected to begin airing this fall.

Netflix’s “Special” will end with a second season of eight half-hour episodes debuting May 20.

AMC/BBC America series “Killing Eve” will return for a fourth and final season in 2022.

NBC canceled realty competition “World of Dance” after four seasons.

Channel surfing

Homewood native Antoine Fuqua produced and directed HBO’s 90-minute “The Day Sports Stood Still” (9 p.m. Wednesday), a documentary about the pro sports stoppage at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Fuqua also will direct and executive produce a drama series Showtime ordered this week, “Shaka: King of Zulu Nation.” … The final season of “Younger” debuts April 15 on Paramount+ and Hulu. … FX is in early development on a follow-up series to “Justified” from the same writers and based on Elmore Leonard’s novel “City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit.” … Apple TV+’s World War II bomber boys drama “Masters of the Air,” a follow-up to HBO’s “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific,” has cast Anthony Boyle (“The Plot Against America”), Austin Butler (“The Shannara Chronicles”) and Callum Turner (“War & Peace”) in leading roles. … America Ferrera will reprise her role as Amy in the series finale of NBC’s “Superstore” (8 p.m. Thursday), executive produced by O’Hara native Jonathan Green. … ESPN snatched NHL rights from NBC beginning in the 2021-22 season and continuing through the 2027-28 hockey season. … “The Accent On-Air: Rooted in Faith” (11:30 a.m. Sunday, WTAE-TV) profiles newly-installed Diocese of Greensburg Catholic Bishop Larry J. Kulick.