I’m a big fan of retro-futurism. In particular, how the people of the mid-20th century saw the future developing. *Popular Science* magazine and other magazines showed us the flying cars. I was eager for the TV show, *Hello Tomorrow!” to air on Apple TV+. When it did, it seemed familiar.
Sixty years ago, my parents bought property in Arizona for an area that was never developed. Hello Tomorrow! is set in that era and has interesting characters and engaging dialogue. It’s like they realized the show wasn’t going anywhere, so they thought, “Let’s add all the technology that was showing up in Popular Science at the time!”
The premise is that a developer is selling land on the Moon. It might be a sham, but the show follows the salesmen as they go city to city promoting the real estate in good faith and with plenty of enthusiasm. Robot delivery vans and flying cars are a mundane part of the *Leave It to Beaver* communities.
Change “Moon” to “Arizona” and remove the fantasy technology, and nothing about the show would change except it would be a period drama about traveling salesmen. None of the retro-futurism has been relevant to the plot.
I made it to episode 4, and have relegated the show to background television.
Picard and Riker go on a buddy trip to save Beverly Crush from the Hypnotoad ship. Picard and Riker retain great chemistry, and play up the over-the-hill angle with good natured humor.