Two seriously impressive Peacock originals to get excited about

Of all the major streaming services, NBC’s Peacock is the one I too often unfairly overlook. In the second quarter of this year, for example, the service had about 33 million paying subscribers — a drop in the ocean compared to Netflix’s 277 million-plus. I don’t give a damn about that data point; if it’s good, I’ll watch it. It doesn’t matter which streamer it’s on, or how many subscribers that streamer has.

And more and more often, when I have free time, I open the Peacock app. I like that it has a hybrid live TV option in addition to the originals, like Poker face And TedI also really like that Peacock doesn’t play the small stuff, but instead seeks out interesting projects with high-quality talent, such as the two upcoming Peacock series I’ll talk about below.

Since both were straight-to-series orders, neither has a release timeframe yet. However, they both offer an exciting glimpse into some of Peacock’s upcoming projects.

Image source: NBCUniversal

Ponies

This first Peacock title is an espionage thriller that boasts some serious talent both in front of and behind the camera.

As someone who enjoys a quality spy drama, the description alone is Ponies got my senses tingling: Set in Moscow during the Cold War, Emilia Clarke plays Bea — an educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants. She’s a PONY (in intelligence jargon, a “person of no interest”) who works anonymously as a secretary at the American embassy. She and a colleague, a small-town girl named Twila, are suddenly widowed when their husbands are mysteriously murdered in the USSR.

Bea and Twilia become CIA agents trying to unravel a vast conspiracy behind their husbands’ deaths.

Creatively, Peacock’s PONIES comes from Emmy Award-nominated director Susanna Fogel (The stewardess, the spy who dumped me), who is writing here with me Mr. Robot’s David Iseron — with Iserson also as the Ponies showrunner.

Missing

Another new straight-to-series order from Peacock is for Missinga female-led crime thriller set in South Florida that comes from – listen up – the co-creator of Netflix’s Ozark (note to Peacock: I’m already sold!!) And the top talent doesn’t stop there; Stefano Sollima — who created and directed Prime Video’s epic crime drama ZeroZeroZeroand also directed and show-ran the iconic Italian mafia drama series Gomorrah — is directing Missing.

The new series’ logline: “Drug dealing is a family affair for Etta Tiger Jonze, but when her family is slaughtered before her eyes, Etta resolves to punish those responsible. She sets out to avenge her blood relatives while building her chosen family, setting in motion her series’ journey from powerless orphan to South Florida’s most powerful criminal queenpin.”

Combined with other recent highlights including The murderer and the coming The Day of the JackalConsider this a reminder that despite its size compared to the other major streamers, Peacock is still doing its thing and still playing to win.