TV Talk: ‘Severance’ back after delay; Manganiello’s Steelers cakes
In the battle for viewers’ eyeballs, Apple TV+ remains a bit of a small fish in the large streaming pond, but Hollywood folks like to work for the service because Apple has more money to spend on shows than traditional Hollywood studios, although reports suggest even Apple is trying to rein in budgets.
But before they began austerity measures, Apple reportedly spent $20 million per episode on season two of “Severance,” streaming its first new episode in almost three years on Jan. 17 (subsequent episodes debut on Fridays through March 21).
A critical hit when it premiered in 2022, Puck News attributes the “Severance” season two delay to behind-the-scenes disagreements about the direction of the show and the impact of the writers’ and actors’ strikes.
“Severance” follows Mark Scout (Adam Scott) and his team at Lumon Industries, where employees have undergone a procedure that surgically divides their memories between their work (“innie”) and personal (“outie”) lives.
At the end of season one, team member Dylan (Zach Cherry) managed to flip a switch while at work that allowed the innie personalities of co-workers Mark, Helly (Britt Lower) and Irving (John Turturro) to emerge while the three were away from the office and in their outie personas.
Mark learned his wife, who he thought was dead, was alive and working at Lumon using the name Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman); avowedly anti-severance innie Helly discovered her outie is actually Helena Egan, a staunchly pro-severance advocate whose father is Lumon’s CEO. And Irv discovered his work love interest, Burt (Christopher Walken), is married. (Season one is available for free streaming through Jan. 19 on Roku.)
Season two begins five months later. Only Mark returns to work on the severed floor where he discovers new workmates. Boss Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) is gone and replaced by Cobel’s former No. 2, Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman).
The premiere is pretty much a reset episode but an entertaining one. Episode two rewinds to the immediate aftermath of the first-season finale. And the new season’s plot begins in earnest in episode three.
The good news about season two: Through all 10 episodes made available for review, “Severance” still manages to surprise consistently and continues its hilarious, knowing and too-relatable parody of insincere corporate culture.
The bad news? Some episodes are pacey and slow; the characters get separated for stretches that will disappoint fans, particularly the absence of season one breakout Ms. Cobel/Mrs. Selvig, played by Patricia Arquette, who was nominated for an Emmy for the role. Her character goes MIA for several episodes as the focus largely shifts to Mr. Milchick as the primary adversary for Mark’s team. Cobel does get some backstory revealed in an episode towards the end of the season.
hold up the actual cast showed up?! https://t.co/QdhGZ9yRpI pic.twitter.com/7OU35nAU5n
— Cris ✨ (@lionesspike) January 14, 2025
The emphasis on Milchick yields memorable moments, including the indignity of his Lumon superiors attempting to strengthen his bond to the company by gifting Milchick paintings of Lumon’s white creator as a Black man, like Milchick, which understandably gives Milchick pause.
Executive producer Ben Stiller directs many of the episodes with the show’s visual palette continuing to emphasize the widest of wide shots that, when combined with the creepy score, give “Severance” an off-kilter, eerie vibe.
By the end of the second season, a few aspects of the mystery plot come into better focus but it’s one step forward, two steps back. Still, “Severance” remains a rare, unique and completely distinctive series.
Manganiello’s Steelers cakes
Actress Caitlin O’Connor (“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”), who grew up in Uniontown, said she’s heard from many Pittsburghers since her boyfriend, “Deal or No Deal Island” host Joe Manganiello, appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Jan. 6 and talked about the custom-made Steelers-themed cakes, made by Cake and Art bakery in West Hollywood, that O’Connor served at Manganiello’s birthday party in Los Angeles Dec. 28.
“One was a jersey with his last name on it and the number is 00 because Joe plays Mr. Zero on the (upcoming season) of ‘One Piece’ for Netflix,” O’Connor explained. “The second cake was a helmet cake, and the flavors of both cakes were lemon and chocolate, respectively.”
O’Connor said the first time she met Manganiello, he asked her who her favorite Steelers player was. She answered Troy Polamalu, who Manganiello said he knows, which kicked off their conversation.
‘The Hunting Party’
NBC moved up next month’s scheduled premiere of “The Hunting Party” to 7 p.m. Sunday to take advantage of the NFL divisional playoff lead-in.
Not sure how much that will help. “Hunting Party” is a predictable procedural about a team of investigators who have to track down “the most dangerous killers our country has ever seen” after they escape from a secret, seemingly unconstitutional prison that blows up (it’s a conspiracy of course). Eminently skippable.
Channel surfing
NBC renewed freshman comedy “St. Denis Medical” for a second season. … NBCUniversal will shutter its Universal Kids cable channel in March, per TheWrap.com. … DirecTV launches the My Sports package of sports channels in some markets but it’s not yet available in Pittsburgh. … Popular children’s YouTuber Rachel Accurso (AKA Ms. Rachel) is coming to Netflix with a four-episode series launching Jan. 27 and plans for more episodes of “Ms. Rachel” to stream later this year. … A filmed-on-stage version of Broadway’s “Waitress: The Musical,” which played in movie theaters in 2023, will stream on Max beginning Feb. 14 alongside the movie it’s based on, “Waitress,” which streams on Max starting Feb. 1. … The Critics Choice Awards, previously postponed from Jan. 12 to Jan. 26 due to the Los Angeles-area wildfires, was postponed again Tuesday and will now air on E! on a date in February that has yet to be announced. … Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” began filming its fourth season this week in Pittsburgh. Scenes were expected to shoot in McKees Rocks on Wednesday.
You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at rowen@triblive.com or 412-380-8559. Follow @RobOwenTV on Threads, X, Bluesky and Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.