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April 6, 2026 
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A multilayered satire of Silicon Valley
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| Billy Magnussen plays a tech bro who has lost his mojo in “The Audacity.” Ed Araquel/AMC |
Dear Watchers,
Dear Watchers,
Take a big scoop of “Silicon Valley,” mix in a healthy dollop of “Billions,” and that pretty much describes “The Audacity,” a tech world satire debuting Sunday, on AMC. The series skewers the pretensions and neuroses of today’s megawealthy, entrepreneurial overlords, and while that may seem like a “fish in a barrel” scenario, the show’s creator, Jonathan Glatzer — previously a writer on “Succession” and “Better Call Saul” — does more with his premise than just take cheap shots.
Billy Magnussen plays Duncan, a chief executive who was once one of the hottest young visionaries in Silicon Valley. But his latest company, a data management firm, has been a flop, picking up only a little bit of buzz after Duncan spreads rumors it’s about to be sold to a megacorporation. Although Duncan is still very rich, he has lost his mojo.
Sarah Goldberg plays JoAnne, Duncan’s therapist, who alongside her husband, Gary (Paul Adelstein), specializes in soothing the egos of multimillionaires. JoAnne also has the ethically questionable habit of using what she learns in her therapy sessions to gain an edge in the stock market. When Duncan learns about this, he pressures her to work with him, to gather and exploit his peers’ secrets.
Glatzer and his collaborators don’t offer too many new insights into the psychology of modern tycoons. What makes “The Audacity” unique is the way Glatzer broadens his story to include people on the periphery. Rob Corddry plays a burned-out civil servant struggling to find anyone in Palo Alto willing to help improve the tech infrastructure at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Zach Galifianakis is memorable as a former techno-utopian who resents the way society has turned against his kind. And the series spends time with the teenage children of its main characters, many of whom have been warped by growing up around cutting-edge technology and boundless financial resources.
In short: This isn’t a one-note show about a handful of fictional tech giants. It is a multilayered portrait of the culture they’ve created, which began with sunny optimism but has been corrupted by greed and arrogance.
Also this week
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| Bryan Cranston in the four-part revival “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair.” Disney |
- One of the most popular villains in the “Star Wars” universe gets his own animated show with “Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord,” which has the former Sith warrior becoming a crime boss. The series debuted Monday, on Disney+.
- Based on a Margaret Atwood novel, “The Testaments” is a “Handmaid’s Tale” spinoff set mostly at a girls’ school, where the daughters of the elites learn how to become properly demure women in a dystopian patriarchy. The first three episodes debut Wednesday, on Hulu.
- The “Schitt’s Creek” co-creator Dan Levy and the “I Love L.A.” creator Rachel Sennott created “Big Mistakes,” a dark comedy about bickering siblings who become drawn into a life of crime. (Levy also stars.) The series arrives Thursday, on Netflix.
- “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” brings back the characters from the 2000s sitcom, all 20 years older now but riddled with the same neuroses. The four-episode mini-series will be available in full beginning Friday, on Hulu.
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