What to Stream: Clooney & Pitt, Will & Harper, a Legend of Zelda game and two Ryan Murphy TV series

What Ellen DeGeneres says is her last comedy special landing on Netflix and George Clooney and Brad Pitt starring in a sleek, New York City caper are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Serj Tankian, frontman of the Grammy-award winning Armenian-American nu-metal band System of a Down, releases a solo EP, we get two Ryan Murphy series — “Grotesquerie” on FX and the ABC medical drama “Doctor Odyssey” — and nearly 40 years after the debut of The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo is finally making the title character the star of her own game.

— Hard as this may be to believe, George Clooney and Brad Pitt are good together. Yes, stop the presses and all that. But it’s been a while since Clooney and Pitt, who first teamed up for “Ocean’s 11” had a movie built around their easy charisma. “Wolfs,” streaming Friday, Sept. 27, on Apple TV+, corrects that with a sleek New York caper about two fixers who have been hired for the same clean-up job. In my review of the film by writer-director Jon Watts (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”), I wrote that “Wolfs” is “designed to show you that they can still, without ever really breaking a sweat, get the job done.”

— Some Pixar fans have quibbled in the past when the digital animation studio has leaned too hard into sequels. But the box office for “Inside Out 2” is hard to refute. With nearly $1.7 billion in ticket sales, it’s the year’s biggest box-office hit. On Wednesday, “Inside Out 2” arrives on Disney+ to make one of the most anticipated streaming debuts of the year. In it, Riley has grown up a couple years but entered a new chapter in life: puberty, bringing with it a number of new emotions. In my review, I wrote that "the filmmakers of ‘Inside Out 2’ have managed again to filter complex psychological developments into a bright, entertaining head trip that in its finest moments packs an emotional wallop.”

— Will Ferrell and Harper Steele became friends and collaborators at “Saturday Night Live,” where Steele was head writer from 2004 to 2008. When Steele came out as transgender a few years ago, Ferrell, interested in reconnecting, proposed a road trip. In “Will & Harper,” streaming Friday, Sept. 27, on Netflix, the two embark on a cross-country expedition full of revelations about what this changes and doesn’t change in their relationship.

— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

— Remember the first time you heard “Million Dollar Baby”? The rap record feels like it came out of nowhere — as so many TikTok smashes do — but continues to endure, moving from hit song of the spring to hit song of the summer to hit song of the fall and beyond. But now, fans of Tommy Richman will get to dive deeper into his musical abilities when he releases the full-length “Coyote,” on Friday, Sept. 27. Little is known about the 11-track release, but the lead singles “Whitney,” a disco-funk electro-detour, and “Thought You Were the One” – a hook-heavy R&B ballad – suggest range.

— Serj Tankian, frontman of the Grammy-award winning Armenian-American nu-metal band System of a Down, will release a short solo EP, “Foundations” on Friday, Sept. 27. The release maintains his band’s abrasion but experiments with different forms of audial rebellion. The single “A.F. Day,” for example, is a kind of psychedelic-punk treatise on the absurdity of everyday mundanity. And it sounds explosive.

— There is nothing predictable about the band Being Dead’s sophomore album, “EELS,” produced by Grammy-award winnerJohn Congleton. Across 16 tracks that move from asymmetrical egg punk, Devo-worship, a recording of a bus driver who has had enough, timeless, near-psychedelic harmonies and various other oddball sensibilities that make them the best college radio rock band in recent history – Being Dead’s organized chaos is future-seeking and familiar all at once.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

— Ellen DeGeneres says her next comedy special coming to Netflix will be her last. “For Your Approval” drops Sept. 24 and the comedian is “going there,” by addressing reports that she was difficult to deal with behind the scenes of her daytime talk show, which ended its run in 2022 after 19 seasons. “I got kicked out of show business,” she says in the trailer.

— Ryan Murphy has a new series on FX called “Grotesquerie” premiering on Wednesday. Niecy Nash stars as a detective who agrees to help a nun and reporter (Micaela Diamond) with a Catholic newspaper to investigate a series of gruesome murders. Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (otherwise known as Taylor Swift’s boyfriend), has a secret role in the show.

— If “Grotesquerie” isn't your bag, there's another Ryan Murphy series making its debut this week. A medical drama called “Doctor Odyssey” premieres Thursday on ABC. Joshua Jackson plays a doctor on board a luxury cruise ship called the Odyssey. Don Johnson, Philippa Soo and Sean Teale also star. The show also boasts a number of guest stars including John Stamos, Kelsea Ballerini, Shania Twain and Chord Overstreet. A trailer for the show had nearly 78 million views within 48 hours, making it the most-watched trailer for a new broadcast TV show. Episodes also stream on Hulu.

— One might assume a TV show called “Colin from Accounts” takes place in an office setting. Instead, it’s a modern day romantic comedy made in Australia. It’s created by and co-stars real-life husband and wife, Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammel, who play two people who are brought together by an injured dog named Colin. All eight episodes of season two debut Sept. 26 on Paramount+.

— “The Walking Dead” characters Daryl and Carol, (played by Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride), make up one of the most popular platonic pairings on television. The two unlikely friends bond over similar pasts and share a deep trust. They next co-star in “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol.” It premieres Sept. 29 on AMC and AMC+.

— Zachry Quinto is back on TV on Monday in a medical drama. But he’s not portraying any dour, by-the-rules doctor — he’s playing Dr. Oliver Sacks, the famed neurologist, path-breaking researcher and author once called the “poet laureate of medicine.” NBC’s “Brilliant Minds” takes Sack’s personality — a motorcycle-riding, fern-loving doctor who died in 2015 at 82 — and puts his career in the present day, where the creators theorize he would have no idea who Taylor Swift is or own a cell phone.

— Alicia Rancilio

— Nearly 40 years after the debut of The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo is finally making the title character the star of her own game. As The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom begins, Link — our usual hero — has vanished, so it’s off to the rescue for Princess Z. She’s hardly a damsel in distress, armed with a “Tri Rod” that lets her duplicate objects she finds outside her castle. She can even make copies of monsters and have them fight on her side. The magical staff gives Zelda the improvisational skills that made last year’s Tears of the Kingdom a smash, while the top-down dungeon exploration will remind old-school fans of early games in the franchise. The Echoes begin reverberating Thursday, Sept. 26, on Switch.

— Lou Kesten

This image released by Nerflix shows Ellen DeGeneres in a scene from her comedy special "Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval." (Wilson Webb/Netflix via AP)

This image released by Apple TV+ shows Brad Pitt, left, and George Clooney in a scene from "Wolfs." (Scott Garfield/Apple TV+ via AP)

This combination of images shows promotional art for the films, "Inside Out 2," from left, "Wolfs," and "Will & Harper." (Disney/Apple TV+/Netflix via AP)

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows, from left, Embarrassment, voiced by Paul Walter Hauser, Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, Envy, voiced by Ayo Edebiri, and Ennui, voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos in a scene from "Inside Out 2." (Disney/Pixar via AP)

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows, from left, Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith, left, and Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, in a scene from "Inside Out 2." (Disney/Pixar via AP)

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Reds fired manager David Bell on Sunday night after six seasons.

The team announced the move hours after a 2-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and named bench coach Freddie Benavides as interim manager for the final five games of the season.

“David provided the kind of steadiness that we needed in our clubhouse over the last few seasons. We felt a change was needed to move the Major League team forward. We have not achieved the success we expected, and we need to begin focusing on 2025,” President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall said on a statement posted on the Reds' website.

With a week left in the season, the Reds are 76-81 and in fourth place in the NL Central, 13 1/2 games behind division champion Milwaukee. Cincinnati closes out the season with five road games. The Reds have a two-game series in Cleveland on Tuesday and Wednesday before closing out the campaign with three games in Chicago against the Cubs.

The 52-year-old Bell — whose grandfather Gus and father Buddy both spent part of their careers playing in Cincinnati — was hired by the Reds in October 2018. He had a 409-456 record over six seasons.

Under Bell in 2020, the Reds earned a postseason berth in his second season, which was shortened by COVID-19 to 60 games.

The Reds finished the 2021 season with a respectable 83-79 record, good enough for third place in the National League Central. That season also produced a National League Rookie of the Year in second baseman Jonathan India.

In 2022, Cincinnati lost 100 games for the first time in four decades. The Reds improved to 82-80 in 2023, despite leading the major leagues with 650 games missed by players because of injuries.

This season began with high expectations that Bell and the Reds couldn't meet. An eight-game losing streak in May put them five games under .500. They strung together seven wins in a row in June to get them back to one game under .500 but couldn't sustain the success.

That lack of consistency would be a trend for the rest of the season.

The Reds swept the Yankees in a three-game series in New York July 2-4 but again faded. They looked as if they could make a postseason run when an Aug. 12-14 sweep of the Cardinals improved their record to 60-61 as they moved into a tie for second place in the NL Central with St. Louis and within a half dozen games of a wild-card spot.

But consistency was a problem again, and Bell lost three of his top starting pitchers, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Andrew Abbott, to injuries. Cincinnati is 12-8 in September.

During Bell's tenure, the Reds brought along a talented core expected to put the organization back on top, including India, Greene, Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain. But Cincinnati hasn't been able to get over the hump.

Bell becomes the third manager fired this season. The Chicago White Sox fired Pedro Grifol and three coaches on Aug. 8, just days after the team ended a 21-game losing streak that tied the American League record.

The Seattle Mariners fired Scott Servais on Aug. 22, in the middle of his ninth season with the team.

Krall plans to speak to the media on Monday at Great American Ball Park.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

FILE - Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell stands in the dugout during a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, July 28, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius, File)

FILE - Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell, right, argues after being ejected by home plate umpire Larry Vanover, left, during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Sept. 10, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell, right, agues after being injected by home plate umpire Larry Vanover, left, during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)