Screening guide: 90s revival, Shorty Street, and action man Tom Cruise

That ‘90s Show streaming from tomorrow on Netflix. Photo / Netflix

THAT ‘90S SHOW

Netflix

As the 80s revival winds down, the zeitgeist has begun shifting its focus to the 90s. That golden age of parachute pants, hot fluoro colours and saying “cowabunga”. Tomorrow, Netflix gets in on the action with this sequel/reboot of the 90s sitcom favourite That ‘70s Show. Set 20 years after the teenage growing pains of the original series we find ourselves in the empty nest of loving mum Kitty and eternal grump dad Red. They agree to let their teenage granddaughter stay for the summer holidays. Soon enough she’s involved in the same sort of basement-dwelling shenanigans that her parents got up to back in their heyday. The original series traded on nostalgia and this modern update is set to do the same. So much so that it may feel like you’ve entered a nostalgic time loop. It’s said to be a little more raunchy than the original and no less than the Wall Street Journal declared “there will certainly be giggles”. Streaming from tomorrow.

SHORTLAND STREET

TVNZ 2

Waiting for an answer to the killer cliffhanger of Shorty Street’s 2022 season finale has been so brutal that fans would be forgiven for feeling like they needed an ambulance themselves. When we left the Street, someone was dead and the hospital was on fire.

Maeve (Jess Sayer), Madonna (Marianne Infante) and Villi (Theo David) watch as the hospital burns. Photo / Supplied

And on Monday you’ll finally be able to find out what happens next. After making good on the promise that the finale would be the biggest in the show’s three-decade history, producer Oliver Driver is now saying its return will go places the show never has before. He’s promising new faces, the return of old favourites and, biggest of all, “it won’t be Shortland Street as you knew it”. Screening 7pm weeknights from Monday on TVNZ 2.

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Neon

Strafing on to Neon this Tuesday is the biggest blockbuster hit of 2022. Action man Tom Cruise returns to the danger zone and the role of rogue jet fighter pilot Maverick in this long-awaited sequel to the 80s action classic Top Gun.

Tom Cruise as Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick. Photo / Supplied

Despite the barrage of scepticism pre-release, the movie blew everyone out of the sky with its thrillingly visceral action sequences that truly put you into the cockpit of the American Air Force’s latest and greatest fighter planes. Its effect was heightened because these were filmed the old-fashioned way — with real pilots doing real stunts in real planes. Critics were left giddy by the spectacle, with one saying it “brings Maverick’s story full circle in a satisfying manner that adds depth and dimension to its predecessor, but still tells a story that’s all its own”. Streaming from Tuesday