What’s it rated? TV-MA
When? 2023
Where’s it showing? Apple TV Plus
What are you supposed to be? If you stripped away all of the pieces of your everyday life and looked at what your destiny is supposed to be, what would your title be? Are you a hero? Maybe even royalty? Perhaps you are meant to be exactly what you are—a teacher, a caretaker, a father.
The Big Door Prize brings a mysterious machine to a grocery market in small-town America. This machine takes your fingerprints, your Social Security number, a scan of your face, and it tells you exactly who it is you are supposed to be. Based on a book by M.O. Walsh, this series features Chris O’Dowd as Dusty, who inherently distrusts the machine and dislikes the results he was given. Everyone around him seems to be thriving with the card they were dealt, but Dusty doesn’t buy any of it.
O’Dowd is charming and funny and a bit of a Debbie Downer, and while this series is still young, it has big potential. Apple TV once again makes a good move with this series—I’m compelled to keep watching this mystery unfold. (10 29- to 35-min. episodes) Δ
This article appears in Apr 20-30, 2023.