TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. Controversies about Silicon Valley tech companies and the growth, development and possible dangers of artificial intelligence are all over the news. Now, thanks to a new CBS series from the makers of "The Good Wife," it's the subject of a new television drama as well. Our TV critic David Bianculli has this review.
DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: Robert and Michelle King are among the finest TV producers working today. And they still work, for the most part, on broadcast TV. The writer/producers, with Robert as occasional director, broke out with "The Good Wife" on CBS. Since then, they've created two spin-offs of that series - "Elsbeth," which still is on CBS, and "The Good Fight," as well as "Evil," a personal favorite. And now, also on CBS, they have "Cupertino," starring one of the leads of "Evil," Mike Colter.
It's a drama series about a small legal firm in Silicon Valley launched specifically to do battle with the billionaire tech company behemoths operating there. It's funny. It's clever. It's amazingly current. And from the moment it arrives, it establishes itself as the best drama series on broadcast TV. But in terms of praise, that's way too limiting. I've seen all 10 of this season's episodes, and "Cupertino" bursts out of the gate as one of the best shows on TV right now anywhere.
Mike Colter plays Michael Price, a staff lawyer retained by but suddenly unfairly dismissed from S-Talk, a fictional business described as one of the leading tech companies in Silicon Valley. He thinks he's being squeezed out on false grounds to deny him his equity share in the business and runs to his own lawyer, played by Steven Pasquale, with intentions to sue. His attorney, though, has other ideas.
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STEVEN PASQUALE: (As Ry) Can I give you some advice? Michael, let it go. You are in demand right now. You've developed S-Talk into a series, a gold mine. You can get any job you want.
MIKE COLTER: (As Michael) Or I can sue.
PASQUALE: (As Ry) This is Silicon Valley. It's David and Goliath. And the Goliaths protect each other here - Apple, Google, Facebook, OpenAI. They've got a combined value of $23 trillion. If you sue, you'll never work around here. You'll have to go back to your dad's firm.
COLTER: (As Michael) Hey. Don't go there.
PASQUALE: (As Ry) OK. Here's the thing. My firm, this firm, won't sue.
COLTER: (As Michael) OK. I guess I need another lawyer.
PASQUALE: (As Ry) No. No lawyer will take it. Michael, call them. Lawyers don't make money here from suing people. They make money by getting a piece of a startup. During the gold rush, don't sue the gold mine.
BIANCULLI: At the same time, S-Talk is firing another employee Olivia Siffre, played by Rachel Keller, for other equally unfair reasons. She rebuffed the sexual advances of one of the company's founders and learned - after being dismissed - that the firm had used not only her recorded voice but her background history and personality traits to launch a new AI entity. When she sees a video with her former boss, played by Will Brill, introducing the new startup, she recognizes herself as the obvious prototype.
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WILL BRILL: (As Richard) Let me introduce Daisy, the smartest and friendliest gen AI model ever. Unlike other LLMs, she has an actual personality. She's authentic. She's a revolutionary app.
RACHEL KELLER: (As Daisy) Hey, hey. What did I tell you? Don't oversell me.
BRILL: (As Richard Everett) OK, Daisy. How would you sell yourself?
KELLER: (As Daisy) How? Let's see. I am a normal person, a friend, a buddy. And if you turn off my parental controls, I can be a lot more. I can be anything you want me to be, sir.
BRILL: (As Richard Everett) You don't have to call me sir.
KELLER: (As Daisy) Sorry. A habit from my parents.
BIANCULLI: These two disgruntled ex-employees can't find anyone to fight for them, so they decide to join forces, launch a new law firm and fight for themselves. Their very small startup team also includes one other fired S-Talk worker, Christy Palladino, played by Ella Stiller, who becomes the law firm's receptionist and lead investigator, and a wealthy investor who happens to be the ex-wife of the S-Talk chief executive. She's played by Busy Philipps and rounds out a powerfully entertaining ensemble.
For Philipps, it's her best role and performance since her early contributions to "Freaks And Geeks." For Ella Stiller, daughter of Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor, it's her juiciest role yet. For Rachel Keller, who was so captivating in "Legion," and Mike Colter, who is so great in "Evil," these are new career highs as well. And the supporting cast, as in all Robert and Michelle King shows, only adds to the riches. Renée Elise Goldsberry, who played Angelica Schuyler in "Hamilton," plays one of the new firm's major in-court adversaries. Also in court, a rotating series of judges, each with his or her own amusing quirks and personalities. And they're played over the course of the series by the likes of Peter Riegert, Danny Burstein, Jackie Earle Haley and Jackie Hoffman.
And behind the scenes on "Cupertino," the art direction is dazzling. David Buckley's music is playfully perfect. And the writing by the Kings and their staff and the direction by Robert King and others constantly amaze and surprise and make you think. Here's Rob McClure as Bo, an inside the tech company whistleblower who contacts Michael and his new firm on Zoom, shielding his full identity because he doesn't know yet whether to trust them.
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COLTER: (As Michael Price) You paid us $100,000. That's a lot of trust. Why don't you come in for a face to face?
ROB MCCLURE: (As Bo) I'd rather not.
COLTER: (As Michael Price) Why not?
MCCLURE: (As Bo) You're being surveilled.
COLTER: (As Michael Price) How do you know that?
MCCLURE: (As Bo) I know these companies. In fact, I don't even think of them as companies. They're countries. If you had 3.8 trillion in valuation, how much would you spend on security and surveillance? 1%? A quarter of a percent? Even if you were to spend only 100th of 1% on security, that still would be $1 billion for surveillance. So you are being surveilled.
BIANCULLI: Watch "Cupertino," which runs Thursdays on CBS and is streaming on Paramount+. It seems ripped from the headlines, but not at all a rip-off of another TV series. "Cupertino," in every respect, is a true original.
MOSLEY: David Bianculli is FRESH AIR's TV critic. He reviewed the new series "Cupertino."
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MOSLEY: If you'd like to catch up on interviews you've missed, like our conversation with comedian Murray Hill about his role in "Somebody Somewhere," building his community and how antitrans rhetoric and policy has affected him, or with Michael Douglas, about two of his best-known movies, "Wall Street" and "Fatal Attraction," coming out in the same year, check out our podcast. You'll find lots of FRESH AIR interviews. You can also watch some of our interviews on our YouTube page - thisisfreshair. And to find out what's happening behind the scenes of our show and get our producers' recommendations on what to watch, read and listen to, subscribe to our free newsletter at whyy.org/freshair.
FRESH AIR's executive producer is Sam Briger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Thea Chaloner directed today's show. With Terry Gross, I'm Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF JIMMY SMITH'S "DOT COM BLUES") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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