TV Talk: Netflix launches astronaut drama 'Away,' HBO Max airs 'Raised by Wolves'

Of all the genres to get a boost from #PeakTV and the rise of streaming services, “astronaut drama” may be the most surprising.

Hulu had one-and-done “The First” (2018), National Geographic Channel had two seasons of hybrid docu-series/drama “Mars” (2016-18), Apple is home to “For All Mankind” and Netflix already has “Lost in Space” and “Another Life,” which, like the new Netflix show “Away,” is about a woman leading a space mission.

Prior to this run of series, astronaut dramas have generally been a bust, from syndicated drama “The Cape” (1996-97) to ABC summer replacement “The Astronaut Wives Club” (2015).

For anyone who’s watched previous astronaut shows, “Away” will feel familiar. It pulls at viewers’ emotional strings in all the predictable ways.

Streaming Friday, Netflix’s “Away” follows American astronaut Emma Green (Hilary Swank) as she embarks on a three-year mission to Mars that necessitates leaving her astronaut husband Matt (Josh Charles, “The Good Wife”) and teen daughter Lex (Talitha Bateman) at home on Earth.

It’s an international space mission, so of course the Russian Misha (Mark Ivanir) and Chinese Lu (Vivian Wu) are allied in their distrust of Commander Emma, especially after a dangerous incident on the first leg of the trip.

Executive produced by Jason Katims, showrunner of the beloved “Friday Night Lights” and the disappointing Western Pennsylvania-set “Rise,” “Away” falls somewhere in between.

“Away” tries to build the backstories of its characters through flashbacks but these tend to be as predictable as the outcome of the “dramatic turn” each episode takes.

It’s clear early on “Away” is not going to pull a “Game of Thrones” and kill Emma in, say, episode two. And yet the show insists on building tension around that possibility. Trying to create drama on the back of something that’s clearly not going to happen is really just marking time.

‘Raised by Wolves’

If “Away” is the optimistic-if-rote space-set entry of the week, HBO Max’s latest effort is the dark, unpredictable counterpoint.

With the first two episodes directed by Ridley Scott (“Alien”), “Wolves” was created by writer Aaron Guzikowski (“The Red Road”) and is now streaming. The series follows two androids, Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim), charged with raising human children on an alien planet.

The premiere episode is often dark and upsetting – not all the children survive – but once a serialized arc kicks in late in the first episode and gets built up even more in the second hour, “Wolves” becomes less mournful and more engrossing.

Turns out the androids were sent by atheists who were battling religious believers back on Earth. The atheists turn out to be as doctrinaire as their rivals.

Travis Fimmel (“Vikings”) shows up as a would-be colonist from the religious group’s ark-like spaceship (with a wardrobe from Crusaders ‘R’ Us). Then all hell breaks loose.

If “Away” is warm and humanistic, “Wolves” proves as cold and robotic as its lead characters.

Early episodes offer some intriguing conflicts and points of view to consider. But later in the season – HBO Max made the first six of 10 episodes available for review — the show devolves into a less interesting cat-and-mouse game between the atheistic robots and the religious invaders while prompting such questions as, can robots hold grudges? Can Father be emasculated by Mother? Do androids see ghosts?

‘Woke’

A comedy that in themes, structure and plot proves similar to Hulu’s other one-word-named comedy, “Shrill,” “Woke” explores what happens when up-and-coming Black cartoonist Keef Knight (Lamorne Morris, “New Girl”) has a traumatic run-in with police.

Keef wasn’t particularly woke to systemic racism before but once his eyes open, he blows up his career and has to find a new path.

Inspired by the life and work of artist Keith Knight, “Woke” offers some keen observations even as Keef begins to hear the inanimate objects around him speaking. Streaming Wednesday on Hulu, “Woke” is a funny, smart show and the always likable Morris handles the lead character’s predicaments in the every-man style fans of “New Girl” would expect.

‘Flight 93’ on History

There have been so many filmed accounts of Flight 93, including the excellent 2006 feature film “United 93,” it’s easy to wonder, what more is there to learn about the United Airlines flight that was hijacked by terrorists in 2001 and crashed into a rural Somerset County field?

But after watching History’s “9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93” (8 p.m. Sept. 11), it still felt like time well spent because it retells such a powerful story of heroism in the face of terror.

This latest Flight 93 production purports to share new information and perhaps it does in the most minute of ways (an audio forensic investigator suggests it was two terrorists who initially breached the cockpit, not four as an official government report concluded). But it’s the minute-by-minute breakdown of phone calls made from the plane and the interviews with loved ones who received those calls that makes the strongest impression.

Canceled/spun-off/reunited

Netflix canceled “Altered Carbon” after two seasons and ordered a live-action series based on the “Resident Evil” franchise.

AMC canceled “NOS4A2” starring Green Tree native Zachary Quinto after two seasons.

Following in the footsteps of “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” Fox is developing an animated spin-off of “The X-Files” featuring D-list agents and no Mulder (David Duchovny) or Scully (Gillian Anderson).

In addition to the long-gestating unscripted “Friends” reunion special, HBO Max will also stream an unscripted “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” reunion special.

Channel surfing

Blink and you’ll miss her, but former Pittsburgher Ming Na-Win (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) makes a cameo appearance near the end of the live-action “Mulan,” available Sept. 4 to Disney+ subscribers for $29.99. … “Tiger King’s” memorable Carole Baskin is among the “celebrities” on the new season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” (8 p.m. Sept. 14). … Free, ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV (available via Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Google Chromecast and at Pluto.TV) has added a feed devoted entirely to “The Carol Burnett Show” at Channel 516. …Season two of “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” executive produced by Mt. Lebanon native Dave Filoni, premieres Oct. 30 on Disney+. … Munhall native Gabby Barrett and Dan + Shay (featuring McCandless native Dan Smyers) will be among the performers at the “55th Academy of Country Music Awards” (8 p.m. Sept. 16, CBS). … Following a tweet mocking Pittsburgh native Billy Porter’s gender identity during the Democratic National Convention last month, WPXI news director Scott Trabandt says, “John Steigerwald is no longer affiliated with ‘The Final Word’ or WPXI-TV in any form or fashion.”