Common Sense Media Review
By Marty Brown
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Melodrama abounds in climate change series.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Extrapolations
What's the Story?
Extrapolations follows the lives of a group of characters over a 35-year period when climate change is profoundly affecting life on Earth. In the year 2037, activists launch worldwide protests against the billionaires and corporations responsible for the Earth's temperature increasing two degrees each year. Meanwhile, opportunistic businessmen attempt to profit from the glaciers melting in Greenland.
Is It Any Good?
Despite the worthy mission, this series stacks the decks so far in favor of its environmental concerns that its knockout cast are stuck with melodramatic, stereotypical, and turgid roles. Extrapolations features an indisputably great cast, no doubt drawn to the idea of depicting the effects of climate change Earth over the next fifty years. But the characters can be particularly cloying. Matthew Rhys (The Americans) plays a mustache-twirling billionaire, who berates his wife, harasses his friends, and says dastardly things like "somebody's going to make a lot of profit from these glaciers melting."
It's so tough to watch that the show might have been more effective if it had gotten rid of the actors entirely, and simply depicted the Earth's possible evolution from the point-of-view of those glaciers. Watching ice melt would get the message across, and it might be more entertaining, too.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about climate change. How important is this issue to you? How often do you consider it or discuss it? How does Extrapolations portray the effects of climate change? What impact does the show have on how you feel about the issue?
Which characters appear to be the moral ones? Who seems amoral? What does the show gain, if anything, from portraying characters as good or bad? Are there times when an amoral character makes a moral or ethical choice? How does that affect your perception of them?
What is unique about the structure of this series? How does it use time leaps to develop its characters? How does it use them to make points about climate change? Is the storytelling effective? Why or why not?
TV Details
- Premiere date : March 17, 2023
- Cast : Meryl Streep , Tobey Maguire , Sienna Miller
- Network : Apple TV
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : Activism , STEM
- TV rating :
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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