REVIEW: Timeshares on the moon

Apple+ brings retro-future magic with ‘Hello, Tomorrow’

Editor’s note: There are some plot spoilers for episodes that have already streamed, but entire storylines aren’t revealed.

“Hello, Tomorrow” is all about the future — as it was imagined in the 1950s.

The retro-future series on Apple TV begins with a great premise and commits to with unforgettable characters and a Jetsons-like sense of technology — especially the robots. They’re not androids. They are the classic bulky, sci-fi robots with very robotic voices, and they’ll do everything from deliver you a telegram to fix you a drink.

This really is like “The Jetsons.” All that’s missing are a moving sidewalk and some space needles.

In “Hello, Tomorrow,” a company called Brightside is selling timeshares on the moon in an era that blends the style of the 1950s with some future tech. Yes, people have video phones! But the images are black-and-white, and they appear on portable TV-like, Jetsons-like sets. There’s no cellphones in this reality.

The cars are straight out of the 1950s. They just don’t need tires because they hover above the street.

The first episode of “Hello, Tomorrow,” which streams with new episodes on Fridays on Apple+, features a self-driving delivery van that has a nice 1950s touch. The technology seems cool, but it’s not flawless.

And it’s the flaws that give “Hello, Tomorrow,” which is both a comedy and a drama, its charm.

In “Hello, Tomorrow,” an actor from another Apple TV series, “The Morning Show” — Emmy winner Billy Crudup — stars as Jack Billings, a salesman who leads other sales associates in making the perfect pitch to sell people timeshares on the moon. It seems legitimate enough. People see rockets blasting off, but “Hello Tomorrow” raises the question of whether these timeshares are real. And the agents may not know the real answer.

There are some personal complications. Jack brings the son (Joey, played by Nicholas Podany) he abandoned into the enterprise. The only thing is Joey doesn’t know Jack is his father, the dad he never saw, and Jack doesn’t know how to tell him.

Mr. Crudrup, who is also one of the show’s executive producers, does a great job playing the flawed Jack, who has a good heart but lacks the honesty to go with it. Hank Azaria is fun to watch as Eddie, a sales associate with a gambling addiction. Haneefah Wood does a great job playing Shirley, Jack’s no-nonsense right-hand woman in the business and Eddie’s wife. She isn’t afraid to tell Jack or Eddie what she thinks.

There’s some great comedy with Herb Porter, the sales associate played with a fun sense of rhythm by Dewshane Williams. It’s a joy just to listen to how Mr. Williams delivers his lines with a staccato-like delivery.

The best performance, though, is by Allison Pill, who plays Myrtle Mayburn. Myrtle sees the moon as an escape from her horrible life, and she puts all her money into a timeshare. Question is: Will she get to the moon?

This writer’s favorite scenes of “Hello, Tomorrow” happen when Ms. Pill stands before the camera and pours emotions into her character. She’s funny, dramatic, and you can’t help but root for Myrtle.

This writer is hoping Ms. Pill gets more scenes and plays a more integral role in the story. The only downfall of “Hello, Tomorrow” is that it doesn’t use her in enough scenes. Before this series, Ms. Pill showed her talent in shows such as “Star Trek: Picard” and HBO’s “The Newsroom.”

“Hello, Tomorrow,” by the way, was created by Amit Bhalia and Lucas Jansen, who have produced a retro-future universe that’s fun to visit. 

email: dmason@newspress.com

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“Hello, Tomorrow” streams with new episodes on Fridays on Apple+. Today’s episode is called
“The Numbers Behind the Numbers.”