On Monday, TV3 premiered In vitro, a series that takes place in a fertility clinic. An innovative idea that, inevitably, forces a balance between comedy and drama. On one hand, the humor typical of work environments and everything related to sex and the intimacy of a couple, and on the other, the suffering that surrounds the difficulties of conceiving a child. Added to this are the human miseries surrounding expectations about offspring and the female universe in complex hormonal situations. A common aspect in many contemporary fictions also emerges: the normalization of an immaturity and infantilization of the characters that enhances the drama of any circumstance, however insubstantial it may be. All in all, a very fertile context for building fiction. In vitro asks, or rather, begs the viewer for a good dose of condescension regarding plausibility. One thing is the reality of reproductive processes and another, very different, is for the characters' actions to be hardly credible: a researcher tricking music students into donating eggs that will satisfy a pianist's longings, or a devoted wife trying to put her husband's semen into a jar, without him noticing, with a furtive straw in his law office. Fried eggs and bananas will become symbolic elements to enhance this zygotic breeding ground. zygotic.

Assisted reproduction, the limits of science, and social expectations surrounding motherhood are some of the topics addressed by In vitro, the new series from 3Cat and HBO Max. The production, created by Alejandra Guimerà and Marc Crehuet, premieres this Monday, October 19, on TV3, on the 3Cat platform, and on HBO Max, coinciding with the opening of the Serielizados Fest. Starring Bruna Cusí and David Verdaguer, the fiction explores the experiences of people who turn to fertility treatments and the professionals who accompany them.

Barcelona will host a new edition of the Serielizados Fest from October 19th to 28th, the festival dedicated to series that combines premieres, screenings, meetings with creators, and professional activities. This year's programming connects Catalan fiction with productions from the rest of the country and international titles, in addition to recovering series that have marked the history of television. Among the program's highlights are the premiere of In vitro, the screening of Sicarios, the new production by Carles Porta, and the tribute to the thirty years of Nissaga de poder. The festival will also feature the presence of British screenwriter Steven Moffat (Sherlock and Doctor Who) and Israeli creator Hagai Levi (The affair and In treatment).

At a time when series consumption is dominated by streaming platforms and audiences are highly fragmented, achieving a fiction that attracts a large volume of viewers can be an impossible mission. The BBC, the British television broadcaster, seems to have hit the mark with Ludwig, a gentle mystery that with its second season has become the most-watched fiction in the United Kingdom since the beginning of the year. According to the BBC, the first episode of the season has accumulated 9.1 million viewers in its first 28 days of availability. In Spain, Ludwig can be watched on Movistar Plus+, which premieres the second installment this Thursday, October 15.

Autumn has always been a marked point on the calendar regarding animation. Once we leave the summer heat behind, animation studios take advantage of the falling leaves to present their most anticipated productions of the year. A season marked by seinen anime, that is, those aimed at a more adult and mature audience. Although animation dubbing in Catalan seems to be slowly starting to return, we will have to resign ourselves to the Catalan subtitles available on Netflix. Apart from this platform, many of the proposals this month will be available on Crunchyroll, the main streaming service dedicated to Japanese animation.

Laia Marull (Barcelona, 1973) is rarely seen on television, the medium that kicked off her career with the series Estació d'enllaç. After having only made sporadic appearances in recent years, she now premieres El castillo, a Movistar Plus+ fiction in which she plays a police officer who, in the mid-90s and early 2000s, investigates the criminal and economic network of human trafficking. It is a raw and exhaustive series, which we discuss during a meeting in Barceloneta, the actress's neighborhood for decades.

October will be a month with plenty of series to choose from. After running at half speed during the summer, platforms are hitting the accelerator and taking advantage of these weeks to launch some of their most ambitious proposals. This month will be marked by new versions of titles that have already had a previous life on screen, as well as various British productions. Catalan fiction will also carve out a space for itself.

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have been best friends for nearly thirty years. They met in the late 90s, when they both coincided in the film EdTV, where they played a pair of brothers. After that film, they worked together twice more: in 2008 in Surfer, Dude and in 2014 in True Detective, a series that was a critical success. The two actors are nine years apart – Harrelson is the older one – and both were born in Texas. For years, however, a question has hovered over both actors: could it be that, besides being best friends, they were also brothers? This mystery, based on a real suspicion, is at the origin of the couple's new television project, Brothers, which premieres this Wednesday on Apple TV.

Since streaming platforms appeared, the range of series available to us is greater than ever. At the same time, the waiting time between one season and another is becoming longer. This gap is starting to have an impact on viewing data, according to a study by the data company Luminate, which analyzes cultural consumption. A wait of at least a year and a half translates into a considerable loss of viewers.

On Monday night into Tuesday we will find out which are the most outstanding series of the year with the presentation of the Emmy Awards, which will hold their 78th edition in Los Angeles. The candidates to take home awards are fictions that in most cases already have a track record, but there is also some newcomer, such as The Curse of Widow's Bay, one of the surprises of this year. But before knowing which fictions are crowned, let's review five key names to keep in mind before the awards celebration.

With a long weekend ahead there is time to do many things, also to start watching those series that we have stored in the pantry because we haven't been able to get to them yet. We select five thrillers that have been released relatively recently and that guarantee a dose of adrenaline.

[Each summer, ARA dedicates a series of Sunday Media articles to reviewing television history. This year we are rescuing some of the most notable channel changes experienced by historical fiction].

Returning to routine after the holidays is lighter when we have entertainment to accompany the ordeal. The course kicks off with many British productions spread across different platforms. The offer includes premiere series and also new seasons of already known titles.

The week ahead, with Jordi Garrigós

Some of the things we hope not to miss in the next seven days

I will listen to Charli XCX's new album. Music, fashion, film is the eighth album by the British pop star and a new, more rock-oriented turn in her prolific career. After dominating with the Brat summer, Charli Aitchison abandons green and embraces black and white to remain almost the only singer of her generation who plays with the mainstream while navigating the margins and experimentation. A singer who is living her particular artistic zenith, having more fun than anyone.

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Ever since its television debut in August 2020, Ted Lasso has earned the title of fiction's most beloved football coach. The protagonist of the eponymous Apple TV comedy, created by and starring Jason Sudeikis, is the archetype of the good guy who strives to make everyone around him happy, sometimes even forgetting himself a little. After a three-year absence, Ted Lasso, the quintessential good feelings series, returns this Wednesday with a new season that marks a renewal of the plot and characters.

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August is not a thrilling month when it comes to series premieres, but the few fictions that land on the platforms have a clear objective: to entertain without making us think too much. The calendar includes some new releases but also the return of already known titles.

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Breaking into the industry is one of the biggest challenges for film or audiovisual communication students from various training centers and universities in the country. Opportunities are not many, and you need to be prepared to seize them on the fly. This summer, however, 38 students have experienced what it means to debut with a professional project by shooting Episodic, a new anthology series powered by the Barcelona City Council and Betevé, the municipal public television, and produced by Serielizados. The young people have participated in all phases of the creative process, from script development, direction, production, cinematography, music, art, or editing, among other technical and creative departments.

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The United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of its independence while observing its democratic foundations in crisis. Platforms also celebrate this with some productions that revisit the nation's history with the subtle intention of reclaiming the values that are being undermined. On HBO Max, Barack and Michelle Obama have produced a series of comedic sketches together with Larry David. The actor, besides being the main protagonist, is also co-creator, co-writer, and producer alongside Jeff Schaffer, his collaborator on Curb your enthusiasm. The series Life, Larry and the pursuit of unhappiness: An almost history of America can be read allegorically. The title parodies the formula of the Declaration of Independence: “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.Larry David introduces his curmudgeonly and killjoy character into emblematic moments of United States history. The production is cinematic and features cameos from a large cast of celebrities such as Jimmy Kimmel, Kaley Cuoco, Jon Hamm, Sarah Silverman, or Rob Reiner, to whom a posthumous dedication is made. Life, Larry and the pursuit of unhappiness pays homage to history with a sense of humor while always seeking a biting contemporary reading. Not all sketches are successful, some are too long, but it has wit. Obama makes the initial presentation recalling the petty characters who have tried to prevent the progress of the United States, in an allusion to the protagonist, but it is inevitable to also think of Trump, who will become the absent and unmentionable protagonist. The past calls to him as a bad future that is inconceivable to exist. The sketch in which George Washington decides to set a limit of two terms for future presidents of the United States to guarantee the democratic health of the nation becomes visionary considering Trump's challenge this week in which he assures that he wants to run for a third term.One of the best sketches is the one that recreates the Rosa Parks episode on the bus. Traveling next to Larry David will blow up all the epicness of the woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man and became the symbol of the civil rights struggle. The whole series summarizes an alternative history of the United States where, for example, Bob Woodward will end up begging deep throat not to call him anymore to inform him about the Watergate case, we will discover the particular sense of decency of Senator McCarthy in his fall or the uncomfortable first airplane flight of the Wright brothers. Also the overwhelming pride of the mother of Jonas Salk, the discoverer of the polio vaccine. The television exercise is fun, and it turns out to be a bit paradoxical. While Donald Trump is destroying the values of the nation's founding spirit, the Obamas are rewriting its history with humor. Perhaps it's the saying that it's better to laugh than to cry.

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The week ahead, with Jordi Garrigós

Some of the things we hope not to miss in the next seven days

I will finish McCartney: the hunt for the lost bass, about the mysterious disappearance and recovery of Paul McCartney's first bass, a Höfner 500/1 bought in Hamburg in 1961 for only 30 pounds. This marvel sounded on the original recordings of Love me do, she loves you and the early Beatles classics. A road movie musical about the greatest pop group of all time.

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Four years ago, Netflix released a series for teenagers that broke the genre's pre-established codes to explore healthier relationships. In an audiovisual market saturated with melodramas that romanticized risk-taking behaviors, mental disorders, addictions, and traumas, Heartstopper appeared. Influenced by the naive aesthetic borrowed from the comic book on which the plot is originally based, it told us the love story between Charlie and Nick, two students at a British high school. The series provided LGBTQI+ references that a whole host of previous generations had not had access to, with the aim of reflecting a safe environment for all the protagonists. Despite the clichés and the positivism that the series exuded, it did not make the mistake of depicting an idyllic world. It reflected the phobias and hostilities that unfortunately persist in society, but it showed how the creation of emotional bonds can become nuclei of protection that help in advocacy and activism. The protagonists are not outcasts forced into a drama of overcoming and solitary struggle, but a group of teenagers who have a support network of friends, family, and some teachers who help them move forward as any boy and girl of that age needs. Although neither the second nor the third season were better than the first, the series managed to sustain itself more or less according to its initial characteristics. But Heartstopper has died of success due to the Netflix virus, which injects commercial criteria and makes one forget unique qualities and authorship. The platform has finished the series with a final two-hour film. Heartstopper forever is a tedious and senselessly drawn-out drama. What they explain could be fitted into a twenty-minute episode. They have stretched the gum so much that, logically, the children have grown up in four days. The ridiculous situation of having a group of adults pretending to be minors is already happening. A film with no plot or conflict beyond an absurd couple's crisis. Heartstopper had the virtue of avoiding the clichés and misunderstandings typical of romantic comedies, defending the intelligence of characters who knew how to express their feelings well. This has disappeared in favor of drama. Of traumas that appear conveniently to construct conflicts effortlessly. Of a vague malaise that clouds the protagonists when a little suspense is needed. The sexualization of Charlie and Nick has been enhanced, with five half-dark sex scenes distributed with a stopwatch throughout the film. The classic television manual with teenagers taking off their shirts every twenty minutes and using sex as a balm to recover from tears. A tug-of-war that caused a loop of crybabies who don't stop whimpering. A clear example of how to ruin a endearing series and turn it into a bland product to squeeze the udder of Heartstopper's success.

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