Hello Tomorrow! Season 1 Episodes 1-3 Review: Futuristic Pipe Dreams

Hello Tomorrow!, Apple TV+’s newest sci-fi dramedy, introduces us to the future.

It’s a future where robots take care of chores and assist with everyday tasks—a depiction akin to the utopia of The Jetsons with a cheerier, glossier aesthetic of the popular period drama, Mad Men. 

And like on The Jestons, robots and automated systems malfunction occasionally, leading to complications and inconveniences from the minor like messing up talk to text dictation to the more serious, such as a coma-inducing hit and run. On Hello Tomorrow! Season 1 Episode 1, “Your Brighter Tomorrow, Today,” the latter puts the story into motion.

Billy Crudup plays Jack Billings, the sales manager of Brightside Lunar Residences, leading a team of ambitious traveling salesmen who peddle the American dream. It comes across as a less grim Glengarry Glen Ross situation. Jack’s tactics might not be as outwardly sinister as Alec Baldwin’s character portrays in the cult film, but there are layers of deception and fraud lurking beneath Jack’s polished optimism.  

It’s evident in the first scene when he puts his pitch to a downtrodden man drinking away his problems at a diner. Even as the man recognizes Jack’s spiel for what it is, he still falls under the salesman’s spell. This is supposed to show us how good Jack is at his job, but the underlying smarminess is palpable.

The man is given hope and even manages a smile, but it’s a false hope and the smile of someone who’s been played a fool. 

At the end of Hello Tomorrow! Season 1 Episode 1, “Your Brighter Tomorrow, Today,” we get a glimpse at the depth of deception at which Jack and Brightside operate. The hints at this continue on Hello Tomorrow! Season 1 Episode 2, “Great Salesmen Make Their Own Turf,” and Hello Tomorrow! Season 1 Episode 3, “A Traveling Salesman Travels.”

Crudup plays charming insincerity well, but is also able to sneak in vulnerability and moments of charming sincerity, too—as seen in his performance as network CEO Cory Ellison on Apple TV+’s The Morning Show.

The story of Hello Tomorrow! hinges on Jack and his complexities. He is deceiving everyone around him, and the precariousness of his situation is what provides all the tension.

The estranged father-son dynamic between Jack and Joey (Nicholas Podany) leaves a lot to be desired. Joey is in the dark about Jack’s familial connection to him as well as the high improbability that there are livable luxury condominiums set up on the bright side of the moon. 

The way the first three episodes play out has me much more concerned with what will happen when the other members of his team find out, particularly Herb Porter (Dewshane Williams).

Herb is quite an interesting character in the landscape of Hello Tomorrow!. It’s difficult for him to lie so he does his best to avoid it. This attribute is an advantage to his position and to Brightside, and depends on him believing the lie.

I am preparing myself now for Herb to discover he’s been unknowingly scamming people. It’s going to be heartbreaking, I know it.

Myrtle Mayburn (Alison Pill) is one of those people. Herb convinces her there’s a better life up in space where she doesn’t have to deal with a philandering husband. Myrtle buys it hook, line, and sinker, and over the first three episodes becomes increasingly upset with the fine print, customer service, and follow-through.

Herb: I’ll get you on the first launch out.
Myrtle: Jesus, am I supposed to read all this?
Herb: Technically yes, but time is your most precious asset. 

Along with Myrtle and her dissatisfaction, Lester Costopoulos (Matthew Maher) is on the case for consumer affairs. These two meet up at the end of Hello Tomorrow! Season 1 Episode 3, “A Traveling Salesman Travels,” putting Jack’s Brightside operation at risk of being exposed.

Lester is in the picture due to Shirley (Haneefah Wood) and her enterprising ways. As the efficient taskmaster of Jack’s group of salesmen, Shirley makes moves to increase business.

On Hello Tomorrow! Season 1 Episode 2, “Great Salesmen Make Their Own Turf,” she buys ad space for Brightside which results in unwieldy interest from the public as well as Lester’s lawful scrutiny.

Shirley’s relationship with salesman and gambling addict Eddie (Hank Azaria) is the least captivating of all the side plots, and it’s difficult to invest in it with so many other elements at work in this story. 

Suffice it to say, none of the elements are entirely successful. At least not yet. 

There are interesting characters and twists, but the overall is rather dull. Reveals fall flat and the retro-futuristic alternative reality in which the story is set is barely explored and fails to offer much originality. 

“Wow.” That’s the one word none of us can live without.

Jack says this in his pitch to the man at the diner. And yet, the first three episodes of Hello Tomorrow! are woefully lacking in the wow factor. 

What did you think of the first three episodes of Hello Tomorrow!? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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New episodes of Hello Tomorrow! stream Fridays on Apple TV+.

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