There is a whiff of nostalgia in this month's television releases, with a few highly anticipated reboots, remakes and spin-offs hitting the small screen and streamers. In February, Netflix takes another swing at adapting a childhood favorite, and we get another "Walking Dead" spinoff, plus a touching tribute to hip-hop history.
'Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story' (Feb. 1)
Hip-hop connoisseurs and music history fans can check out "Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story," a Peacock documentary series about Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, that hit Peacock earlier this month. Run-DMC is undoubtedly hip-hop royalty, and the documentary follows their meteoric rise to fame and how "their success debunked the media's myth of hip-hop being 'just a fad,'" Collider wrote. The film is a vulnerable look at the group that "doesn't try to be too progressive or sanitized." the outlet noted. In some aspects, fans may be left wanting more, "but at the end of the day, 'Kings From Queens' is an emotionally satisfying trip down memory lane," the outlet added.
'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' (Feb. 2)
An adaptation of the 2005 film of the same name, the new "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" series stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as the titular spy duo, this time masquerading as a married couple. The couple "certainly seem to have recaptured at least some of the chemistry of Brangelina," Malcolm McMillan opined for Tom's Guide. "And thankfully, this isn't just a paint-by-numbers remake," he mused.
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The show follows John (Glover) and Jane (Erskine) as they handle missions while trying to get to know each other and "figure out whether it's helpful or detrimental to their mission to have actual romantic chemistry," Noel Murray explained in The New York Times. While there are "chase scenes and explosions sprinkled throughout," Murray said, "this take on the 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' premise is more grounded."
'Avatar: The Last Airbender' (Feb. 22)
Wait. Hear us out. Live-action adaptations have a terrible reputation, but if you consider the success of last year's "One Piece" adaptation, Netflix may have cracked the code. This is not the first time someone has tried to adapt the massively popular Nickelodeon animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender,” but "Netflix’s forthcoming adaptation may well be its best rendition yet," Ryan Epps said in Tom's Guide. For better or worse, this is one of the year's most anticipated films, as fans wait to see if the streamer can do it justice. Showrunner Albert Kim described the series as "a remix, not a cover," in an interview with IGN, so die-hard fans can expect some changes.
'The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live' (Feb. 25)
Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira reprise their roles in "The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live," the latest in a series of spin-offs for the zombie apocalypse franchise. The pair reunite to continue the love story of Rick and Michonne, who both left the original series before the official finale. Years later, the two remain separated by distance and "the ghosts of who they were," per the official series description. "Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?"
'Shogun' (Feb. 27)
Set in Japan, the upcoming historical-drama limited series is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by James Clavell, which was previously made into a 1980 television miniseries. Shogun tells the story of Lord Yoshii Toranaga, played by Hiroyuki Sanada, who must defend himself as his enemies on the Council of Regents band together against him. Cosmo Jarvis also stars as an English pilot who "comes bearing secrets that could help Toranaga tip the scales of power," per the official logline. Malcolm McMillan tagged the show as one of the year's most anticipated films for Tom's Guide, calling it "the next "Game of Thrones." The show promises to deliver "plenty of violence, political machinations and men (and women) talking in rooms," McMillan noted, all of which made GOT great.
