'Truth be Told,' 'Hala,' now streaming on Apple TV+

Two new offerings have begun streaming on Apple TV+ today — True-crime mini-series, "Truth Be Told" and coming-of-age tale, "Hala."

"Truth Be Told" is a true-crime drama that stars Octavia Spencer ("The Help", "The Shape of Water") and Aaron Paul ("Breaking Bad", "BoJack Horseman"). The show is based on the original novel "Are You Sleeping" by Kathleen Barber. It's written by Nichelle Tramble Spellman, who will also act as executive producer. Spellman has also worked on "The Good Wife", Harper's Island", "Justified", and others.

The series will run for ten episodes, each of which are about 45 minutes long. The first three episodes debut today, with one a week to follow for the following seven weeks. There is no word on if the series will continue for a second season, or if it is meant as a standalone story.

AppleInsider has reviewed "Truth be Told," calling it compelling and enjoyable, but we noted that it didn't offer much insight into true crime podcasting as we had originally believed it would.

"Hala" is a coming-of-age drama that focuses on a teenage Muslim girl who navigates the discordant worlds of a traditional household and a modern high school in Chicago. Greenwich Entertainment is assisting Apple on release. As noted in our look at the trailer, the story seems to focus on the difficulty the titular character has finding her place in the world.

The film received accolades at both 2019 Sundance Film Festival and 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.

Apple TV+ launched over a month ago, with an impressive catalog of exclusive movies and shows available to watch. Apple TV+ is available for $4.99 a month, though anyone who has recently purchased new Apple hardware, such as an iPhone 11 or Apple TV, will get a free year-long subscription to the service.

Apple has reviewed "The Morning Show," "See," and "Dickinson," which are all currently available to watch on the service.

4 Comments

sacto joe 895 comments · 14 Years

About 4 years ago

I’m still waiting for all those posters who swore Apple would shy away from adult fare to admit they were wr-wr-wrong....

entropys 4298 comments · 13 Years

I am so over the traditional tv approach of multiple seasons of the same show. Once great shows end up dying a lame death as writers start thrashing about for new ideas to keep the show alive just that little bit longer until they jump the shark.

No doubt it also creates a straitjacket for the characters, stifling creativity.

The beauty of streaming is that the stand alone series where a complete story is told in more detail than would be possible in a movie, but it still has a clear beginning, middle and end is great.

Probably also why Korean Dramas are developing such a following too.

These two shows should only be one season. That would be “just right”.

StrangeDays 12959 comments · 8 Years

sacto joe said:

I’m still waiting for all those posters who swore Apple would shy away from adult fare to admit they were wr-wr-wrong....

No doubt. There is tons of adult themes and language in these shows. entropys said:

I am so over the traditional tv approach of multiple seasons of the same show. Once great shows end up dying a lame death as writers start thrashing about for new ideas to keep the show alive just that little bit longer until they jump the shark.

No doubt it also creates a straitjacket for the characters, stifling creativity.

The beauty of streaming is that the stand alone series where a complete story is told in more detail than would be possible in a movie, but it still has a clear beginning, middle and end is great.

Probably also why Korean Dramas are developing such a following too.

These two shows should only be one season. That would be “just right”.

It depends on the show, but yeah. The Night Of on HBO followed this model. Succession was also going to be one season, but it turned out too awesome so they've expanded it to at least three; second just finished and was even better than the first. British shows seem to have a bunch of miniseries like this, Dead Set was one of my favorite zombie shows at just 5 episodes.

I think as the advertiser-based TV channels are deemphasized and original content is owned by the platform, we'll see more of this.

sloaah 29 comments · 10 Years

entropys said:

I am so over the traditional tv approach of multiple seasons of the same show. Once great shows end up dying a lame death as writers start thrashing about for new ideas to keep the show alive just that little bit longer until they jump the shark.

No doubt it also creates a straitjacket for the characters, stifling creativity.

The beauty of streaming is that the stand alone series where a complete story is told in more detail than would be possible in a movie, but it still has a clear beginning, middle and end is great.

Probably also why Korean Dramas are developing such a following too.

These two shows should only be one season. That would be “just right”.

That's certainly one thing the BBC does very well – ending shows when they should end. Often that means a mini-series, or a two season run etc., even if the show has picked up significant attention.

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