Apple TV+
sea captain of the Airis the third and terminal installment in the trilogy of World War II telecasting drama that Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have been producing for well over 20 years now . Their efforts began with 2001’sBand of Brothersand keep with 2010’sThe Pacific , both of which took home the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries in their respective years . Both air onHBO , which was see at the time as the only place where expensive , truly prestigiousness miniseries like them could be made . A caboodle ’s changed since then .
Case in point : master key of the Airisn’t an HBO production . The miniseries , which follows the penis of the material - life-time 100th Bomb Group and their bombing efforts in Nazi - controlled part of WWII - epoch Europe , premiered last week onApple TV+ . It is n’t any less expensive or star - studded thanBand of BrothersandThe Pacific . On the contrary , one could argue that it ’s an even bigger series than either of those two dramas . Why , then , was Spielberg and Hanks ’ most ambitious WWII miniseries to appointment made for Apple TV+ rather than HBO , the dwelling house of its two sister shows ?
Apple TV+
When you watchMasters of the Air , the first thing you ’ll likely be struck by is the sheer craftsmanship on show . The series , which was engineer by talented directors like Cary Joji Fukunaga , Dee Rees , Anna Boden , and Ryan Fleck , is full-bodied in vibrant colors and thick shadow . It ’s refined yet rugged , monumental yet familiar , and it abandons theSaving Private Ryan - instigate , on - the - ground style ofBand of BrothersandThe Pacificin favor of a sleeker and more graceful aesthetic that fit its story , most of which takes place in the air as its primal cowcatcher fly their missions over Europe and Africa .
Once upon a time , shows as big and expensive asMasters of the Airwere hard to retrieve . Nowadays , not so much . Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have changed the TV landscape always by favoring the kind of brusque - fiat , 8 - to-10 - instalment data formatting that , in America at least , was once a defining trait of HBO ’s original programming . Shows likeGame of ThronesandStranger Thingshave additionally made blockbuster - sized budgets an increasingly common phenomenon on television .
Amid all these revolutionary changes — and even as Prestige TV has become an all - encompassing term mean to describe Hollywood ’s current , gamy - quality wave of episodic programing — HBO has held onto the title of goggle box ’s most prestigious platform . Netflix ’s output has always been too diffuse and various in terms of tone , content , and timber for it to issue as an actual contender for that title of respect , and the same goes for Prime Video . Newer service of process have , meanwhile , struggled to build perceptible brands through their depicted object . Of all of them , only Paramount+ has get along closest to reach that by becoming the ostensible plate of the Taylor Sheridanverse ( i.e. , shows likeYellowstonethat are popular , though not among awards voters ) .
By throwing as much money and star power as it can at viewers , though , Apple TV+ has grown into an progressively formidable help . No matter the strength of their storytelling , Apple ’s shows have all feature the same , impressive production timber and expensive sheen , and the political program ’s library has become considerably robust in a shockingly short amount of sentence . It has established itself as a home for blockbuster sci - fi shows likeSilo , Foundation , andSeverance , as well as less mellow - concept , but no less dandy shows likeMythic Quest , The pirate , Bad Sisters , andSlow Horses , the latter of which has issue as one of the platform ’s unlikeliest summit jewels .
Apple TV+ has , in other words , become a place where both gifted writers and Brobdingnagian stars can go to make TV show that will be , at the very least , produce at an firm impressive high tier . The same has long been true of HBO .
Ever since it produced acclaimed , form - redefining display likeThe Sopranos , The Wire , andDeadwoodin the previous 1900s and early 2000s , HBO has been known among goggle box viewers as a place where they can expect a certain level of greatness to almost always be met . Recent high - visibility misfire likeThe Idol , as well as the David Zaslav - mandated dilution of its brand via the unnecessary restructuring of HBO Max , have dinge its report a bit , but not so much as to make viewers all lose religious belief . It does n’t , in fact , seem like HBO is in any risk of losing its foothold as one of Hollywood ’s premier TV manufacturer anytime soon .
Will it still be known in a few year asthehome of Prestige TV , though ? That seems less clear , especially if the already blurred note separating HBO and Max originals continues to produce less immediately detectable to casual consumers . Either way , Apple ’s seemingly endless flow of tax revenue and it ’s time - try , wiz - driven content formula make it the first actual competitor for the Prestige TV crown . The platform has long since outgrown its repute as one that was kept alive by its few , Ted Lasso - sized hits . Should it uphold producing prestigious , high - toll appearance likeMasters of the Air , which once would haveonlybeen made by HBO , then its place within the streaming market place may only proceed to develop stronger , too .
The interrogative may not , therefore , be how much longer HBO will be seen as the beating tenderness of the Prestige telecasting existence , but how long it will be before Apple TV+ has bring in the same level of built - in trust among viewers that has long defined and elevated its Warner Bros. Discovery - own competitor . If the service sticks to its current strategy , the response to that question may very well be : Not long .
New episodes ofMasters of the Airpremiere Fridays on Apple TV+ .
