HiT or Miss: We’re All Wrong About Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’

Contrary to popular belief (a belief held by one HiT critic) “Digger” is an amazing movie.

Does Tom Cruise chew the scenery for about 110 of its 128 minutes? Absolutely. But his scenery-chewing is an essential part of the movie and explaining why would be a huge spoiler. (SPOILER paragraph below)

The 18 or so minutes he’s not “hamming it up” really make the film. Saying more would give too much away. Just go see it.

“Carrie” on Prime Video has risen to a close 2nd on my list of BEST THING CURRENTLY ON TV behind Paramount’s “Lioness,” a show so based I sometimes can’t believe it exists in 2026.

The best part? For a show adapted by Mike Flanagan from a Stephen King novel, the Woke Factor is low, roughly 3 percent. And the crazy Christian lady, a King staple, is, unintentionally I’m sure, portrayed as the most level-headed person in the show.

(Keep a keen eye out for a “Battlestar Galactica” reunion.)

If you’re looking for good, low stakes, family-friendly viewing, or if you’re just looking for the TV equivalent of a warm cup of tea, you could do far worse than “Doc Martin.” (The first 6 seasons are free on Roku, the rest on Acorn TV).

Doc Martin, played by the deadpan Martin Clunes, is a world-class surgeon who develops hemophobia (a fear of blood) which is, uh, not great for a surgeon. Yada yada yada. He ends up as the GP in his boyhood vacation home, the beautiful seaside hamlet of Portwenn (no spoilers, this all happens in the first 15 minutes of the first episode) where he reconnects with family members and falls in love.

This is all made very difficult by the fact that he is basically autistic, unable to produce or express emotion. Think Sheldon from “The Big Bang Theory” if he were an English doctor without a laugh track. (Side note: I recently binged all 3,000 episodes of that sitcom. Verdict? Not bad.)

“Doc Martin” ran 10 seasons (or “series’” if you’re snooty) between 2004-2022 and produced a whopping 79 episodes (the English do TV right…). Perfect bedtime viewing with the Mrs. if she can’t watch anything TOO scary and you can’t endure celebrities dancing.

Why does it feel like “Dancing With the Stars” is on 12 times and 36 hours a week?

Portwenn is populated by interesting-enough side characters. One of them, Bert, the supposed “lovable” comic relief, is maybe my least favorite character in TV history. Just an awful person. But the show is good.

There is currently an American-ized version airing on Fox. “Best Medicine” stars Josh Charles (“Sports Night”) and Abigail Spencer (“Mad Men”) and it’s… fine. The chaos and frantic-ness are jacked up about 110 percent for an American audience, but Charles and Spencer keep it fairly grounded.

Josh Segarra, the local cop, is a wonderful young character actor, but boy, a little of him goes a long way, and there’s a lot of him in this…

Spooky Season Movie of the Week:

“Backrooms” popped up on HBO (I will only ever call it HBO) last week. It’s an indie film by Kane Parsons, a YouTube-based creator expanding on his series of shorts.

The premise? Man finds secret door. Man goes through secret door. Man experiences weirdness. As premises go, it’s not bad. “Backrooms” has several pretty good, “what did I just watch?” moments but lacks the visceral thrills of, say, “Obsession.” That film is perhaps the most “what did I just watch?” movie of all time.

Chiwetel Ejiofor leads and is reliably very good. Wanted to love this one. Just kind-of liked it…

Conservative firebrand and long-time media critic John Nolte wrote a book, “Borrowed Time.” Smarter people than me call it a “poignant meditation on the human condition.” I call it a cracking good page-turner with sci-fi elements.

Me no smart on books…

Has there been a bigger fall from grace than Joel McHale? Dude went from leading the hippest, funniest show on TV (“Community”) to starring in “Animal Control,” a show from THE BIG BOOK OF NETWORK SITCOMS…

Most Unnecessary Season of Television of 2026 (So Far):

“Ted Lasso” had a solid, 3-season run on Apple TV. American football coach moves to England to coach soccer, a sport he literally knows nothing about.

Hilarity ensues.

It’s one of the few times Jason Sudeikis doesn’t play an unrepentant a-hole. (And it absolutely got a huge laugh-cry out of me in its “final” episode.) I thoroughly enjoyed it, though it sometimes threatened to collapse in on its own Everything Will Turn Out Fine-ness.

The current season finds him coaching the women’s soccer team for… reasons… and seems to exist only because a bunch of people were sad the show had ended. It’s predictably woke – how could it not be? – and, worst of all, schmaltzy.

You’d be better off spending your Apple TV time on “Dark Matter,” a seriously interesting sci-fi series that didn’t NEED a second season but got one and has surprised me by being just as good as season one.

Is this the Wokest song of all-time?

A single, nearly 27-year-old English white girl lamenting the horrors of motherhood and the “picket fence dreams” of her… spouse? Boyfriend? Whatever. It’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” if “The Handmaid’s Tale” was a 4-minute musical dirge.

This one has been making the rounds on alternative and college radio for a while (like the great WXPN in Philly) and I just assumed from the tone and lyrics it was sung by a black girl in an arranged marriage. Nope. White Lady Savior.

It’s so bad it may be worthy of its own future column. If it hasn’t already, it is 100 percent guaranteed to show up on “Grey’s Anatomy.”

And finally…

***DIGGER SPOILER!!! READ NO FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT!!!***

Around 90 percent of “Digger” is a play. This is the Big Twist. And what Cruise does brilliantly is display the stark difference between film and stage acting. On stage, everything is heightened. You “play to the back of the room.”

Facial expressions are exaggerated. Accents are thicker. Humor is broader. And so on. How do I know, you might ask? Shut up and I’ll tell you, I might answer.

I know because I’ve spent thousands of hours on stage playing all manner of character. Usually the short, fat, funny one. Sometimes in a dress. I’ve also worked on a few movies. Trust me, it’s different.

Cruise slides seamlessly from the character of Digger to the actor playing Digger as he deals with a “real life” crisis off stage (which I found almost as engaging as the main plot).

Yes, it’s a BIG character, but it is not an extended version of his Les Grossman from “Tropic Thunder.” Not even close, thank goodness. Go see “Digger.” It’s great.

Roll credits.