Hello Tomorrow!

This is my review after two episodes. It may change, but I'd be surprised if it goes down. This is the world of the Fallout games before the bombs hit -- 50's aesthetics, hover cars and robot assistants. If you're a video gamer, this setting might already have a place in your heart.

However, we also have Billy Crudup. He's one of those people whose delivery is so engaging that you just have to listen to what he's saying. If you've seen the Morning Show, you know what I mean. Other actors I'd put in this category are Jack Nicholson and Manny Patinkin.

Despite the fact that this is science fiction, the situations are believable, realistic human problems. Shady salespeople, family secrets and people learning lessons later in life.

The people giving this a low rating seem like they don't understand the whole concept of a tv show- this is make-believe, guys- chill. This isn't a documentary about space travel or the possibility of jet-packs existing at the same time as cartoon driven UPS style trucks with no tires. This is just a made up setting. It's so funny how people complain about wanting something new and different, but then complain when it's different in a way that they don't like. Here they are, rolling the dice on something new! Give it a chance or we'll end up with nothing but true crime reenactment series (The staircase, Dahmer, 10 more in the works! Ugh) and scooby do spin-offs and you'll have no one but yourselves to blame! Now that we got that out of the way....

I only saw the first episode, so here's my take so far. This show had the style and set design of that 1964 world's fair "We're capable of anything and everything is great!" vibe. I couldn't help being taken with it. Floating robot waitresses? Why not? It's the type of stupid and unnecessary but "futuristic and cool" things people back then thought we'd have by now. It's fun and different, and just adds a little levity to what seems to be a show that's pretty heavy, topic-wise.

People keep comparing it to the Jetsons, which I get because of the futuristic style, but that's far as the comparisons go. The vibe of the show doesn't match it at all. It reminded me of something the whole time and I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I started writing this- Pee Wee's Playhouse. I know, it sounds like an odd comparison, but it has the same over the top characters and even acting style to show the "innocence of the time" in a tongue in cheek way. It's obviously not as zany, but it has the same surface level silliness. It's hard to explain, but it's definitely a big part of the first episode. It was just the vibe, though- not AT ALL what the show was actually about, so no worries of secret word of the day or any of that. It may pull back as episodes go on to reveal the true meat of the show, which is "slick salesguy is selling the perfect American Dream as his own life is down in the dumps" which we've all seen time and time again. The acting is great and I believe that this guy believes that he's doing right by people. I like his sales team, and potential of seeing them interact more in the future. His son has the "aw gee, mister!" thing going on, which will probably change as more is revealed. I'm going to keep watching because I'm intrigued by how the storyline, setting, and acting style are all going to work together as we get out of the pilot episodes and see if everything still holds up once the scenery is no longer the star of the show. I think it's definitely worth a shot!

I was very intrigued by the show's retro-futuristic aesthetic. I was expecting something like a live-action Jetsons and hoping for a For All Mankind -like exploration of alternative history.

What we get is a very simple show about a con man trying to reconnect with his son. That's it. The fact that he's selling property on the moon or that the bartenders are floating robots is absolutely inconsequential.

Compare it to For All Mankind. That show is a generational drama that explores an alternative reality and even though the technology and politics are in the background, you can still understand how that future came to be and its implications and ramifications, which are often fascinating.

Or take Severance, another Apple show, so simple on the surface, and yet so intriguing, because, besides the mysteries, it explores how the procedure affects the characters and society as a whole.

None of these are present in Hello Tomorrow. The retro-futuristic look quickly becomes just an overused visual (compare it to Gattaca, where they were very smart in getting just a whiff of retro, enough to create an unique style, but not so much as to overshadow the story). Even Loki put this aesthetic to better use.

What we are left with are a bunch of characters that are not even lovable like the protagonists of Paper Moon, the '70s movie about a con man and his daughter.

Retrofuturism is not the point of this show. It's just a device to explain why the future is not as interesting as they thought it should be in the fifties. The reason that future never worked out is because that is not the way that it was meant to be. But in this show let's assume they got the future they wanted, which caused them to miss out on the future we take for granted today, 70 years later.

This is why the social, political and economic turmoil of the sixties through 2010s never happened and things are as boring as they are; their vision of the future solved a lot of those problems for them. But it created a utopia that seems lame because it lacks all of the conflict and drama that we're accustomed to.

It is no different from a lot of science fiction shows. The future isn't all that interesting. What is interesting is how people deal with conflict, turmoil and collapse. This society has no global warming. It doesn't have opioid addiction. It doesn't have mass shootings. Racism does not exist here. It doesn't have a lot of things. So yes it's boring, but that is what happens when technology solves our problems. It is the reason why they're selling empty promises of the moon, because despite their technological advances, they are missing something deep down. This is a human condition that technology will never address.

It's almost written as what people in the 50s thought the future would look like based on their worldview. There is no other series like this and I appreciate the deviation from the same tired stories. This is fresh with beautiful set designs, and excellently acted with a phenomenal cast!

I had no expectations going in, just the glimpse of the preview before hitting play so I had no idea what I was getting into. I'm glad we gave it a chance as it's not soon forgotten. I think it's under appreciated, understated. I'm not claiming "some just don't get it" because there are certainly parts where I was wondering if I even did. But I'm glad we followed to completion. It's like watching a play. It has all the fun elements of a good, enjoyable story and I don't feel like I wasted time invested as I do with so many shows these days.

Watch it for the characters, see how the story plays out. It's unique and quirky and fun. Escapism is what a good story should offer and this definitely delivers in that regard.