Apple TV+ has been in the headlines in recent days for word that it’s apparently going to start cracking down on the eye-popping budgets that it gives to projects — a phenomenon that’s led some in Hollywood to informally regard Apple, compared to the other major streamers, as the biggest spender in town. So, whatever; its show and movie budgets are apparently going to change. Maybe it means fewer projects move forward than otherwise would.
One thing that probably won’t change is Apple’s commitment to quality when it comes to Apple TV+, whether we’re talking award-winning shows like Slow Horses, buzzy new dramas like Sunny, or Apple’s dreamy, one-of-a-kind series Pachinko. Along those same lines, the streamer’s library is about to get a little larger in August with two new shows that deserve a spot on your watchlist, one being a drug cartel docuseries and the other a comedy from Ted Lasso creator Bill Lawrence.
Cowboy Cartel
Steve Pennington in “Cowboy Cartel.” Image source: Apple
First up, on Aug. 2, we have a docuseries in which a rookie FBI agent takes on the leadership of the brutal Mexican drug cartel, Los Zetas.
In the annals of Mexican cartels, Los Zetas rank as one of the worst and most terrifying (Prime Video’s ZeroZeroZero, from the same journalist behind Gomorrah, is partly a story about the cartel). Formed by ex-members of the Mexican Special Forces, Los Zetas are one of the most feared criminal gangs in Mexico and have tentacles in everything from kidnapping to extortion, drug trafficking, and much more.
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The Apple TV+ docuseries Cowboy Cartel is about how a rookie FBI agent from rural Tennessee named Scott Larson led the investigation to take down cartel leaders Omar Treviño Morales and Miguel Treviño Morales. Larson came at the problem through a side door, essentially — tracking the brothers’ racehorse transactions in the US, which he’d sussed out that the brothers were using to help them launder money.
Among the series’ executive producers is Eric Newman, whose credits include two similarly-themed projects for Netflix: Griselda and Narcos. Cowboy Cartel also includes interviews with Lawson, as well as IRS agent Steve Pennington; Irving police officers Steve Junker, Brian Schutt, and Kim Williams; Assistant United States Attorney Doug Gardner; Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Ginger Thompson; and Joe Tone, the author of Bones: Brothers, Horses, Cartels, and the Borderland Dream.
Bad Monkey
Vince Vaughn in “Bad Monkey.” Image source: Apple
Coming next, on Aug. 14, we have the third Apple TV+ series from hitmaker Bill Lawrence (whose other Apple shows include Ted Lasso and Shrinking).
Bad Monkey, adapted from Carl Hiaasen’s 2013 novel of the same name, stars Vaughn as a literal Florida Man — a former Miami police detective who, according to Apple’s synopsis, ”has been bounced from the Miami Police Department and is now a health inspector in the Keys. But after stumbling upon a case that begins with a human arm fished up by tourists, he realizes that if he can prove murder, he’ll be back in. He just needs to get past a trove of Floridian oddballs and one bad monkey.”
Lawrence’s shows tend to always feature pretty strong casts, and Bad Monkey is no exception. In addition to Vaughn, it includes Rob Delaney, Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Ashley Nicole Black, and Zach Braff, among others.
Also, considering the show comes from Lawrence (who’s currently batting 1000 with his shows for Apple TV+), his involvement alone probably makes this one worth putting on your watch list. Meanwhile, check out trailers for both of these new Apple series below.
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